Yemen: Saudi-led coalition hits food factory, killing 14 civilians

Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition bombed a food factory in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa early on Tuesday, killing 14 civilians working on an overnight shift, according to a factory official and medics.

Airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition bombed a food factory in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa early on Tuesday, killing 14 civilians working on an overnight shift, according to a factory official and medics.

An employee walks inside a a snack food factory after a Saudi-led air strike hit it in Sanaa, Yemen, August 9, 2016. (REUTERS)

Five women were among those killed in what effectively was the resumption of heavy bombardment by the Saudi-led alliance targeting Yemen’s Shiite rebels and allied forces loyal to Yemen’s ousted president. The resumption comes after UN peace talks on Yemen collapsed over the weekend in Kuwait.

The airstrikes also signal the end of a fragile truce declared by the United Nations in April to pave the way for peace talks.

A worker loks for survivors amid the rubble of a food factory that was hit by Saudi-led airstrikes, in Sanaa, Yemen, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016. (AP)

The conflict in Yemen pits the internationally-recognized government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his allies, backed by the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis who overran and captured Sanaa in September 2014.

Since the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes against the Houthis, the war has claimed 9,000 lives, displaced some 2.4 million people and pushed the Arab world’s already impoverished country to the verge of famine.

The bombing of the factory — located in western Sanaa — is one of series of airstrikes that rocked the capital and at least five other provinces, presumably targeting suspected rebel positions such as barracks housing Houthis and their allies, ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s forces.

Smoke rises from a snack food factory after a Saudi-led air strike hit it in Sanaa, Yemen, August 9, 2016. (REUTERS)

According to medics and the factory official, a large hangar used by the al-Aqel food company in Sanaa was hit in one of the overnight airstrikes.

Photographs posted by activists on social media show torn and charred bodies at the location. The same factory was hit in airstrikes in January, though there are no visible Houthi camps or barracks in the vicinity of the factory. The nearest rebel post is nearly 1.5 kilometers (mile) away.

The factory official and the medics spoke on condition of anonymity, fearing retribution by the Houthis.

Yemen’s SABA news agency, which is now under Houthi control, said dozens of airstrikes pounded Sanaa, the Houthis’ northern stronghold of Saada, the western cities of Taiz and Jouf, and the Red Sea ports of Makha and Houdeida over the past 24 hours.

Firefighters extinguish a fire that engulfed a snack food factory after a Saudi-led air strike hit it in Sanaa, Yemen, August 9, 2016. (REUTERS)

Employees show the damages at a snack food factory after a Saudi-led air strike hit it in Sanaa, Yemen, August 9, 2016. (REUTERS)

According to reports, the Saudi-led coalition has closed the airspace around Sanaa, preventing a Houthi rebel delegation from making its way back to Yemen after the talks ended without progress in Kuwait.

Since the start of two-year war, the Saudi-led coalition has controlled of the airspace over neighboring Yemen.