You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Yemen: Tentative Ceasefire After U.S.-Backed Airstrikes Kill 120

HeadlineJul 27, 2015

In Yemen, at least 120 people are dead after Saudi-led airstrikes pummeled a residential neighborhood in the western port city of Mokha late Friday, marking the deadliest wave of bombings since the U.S.-backed campaign against Houthi rebels began in March. The strikes hit a housing complex for power plant workers, flattening buildings and sparking fires that spread throughout the neighborhood and burned alive women, children and elderly. Residents described the onslaught.

Mokha resident 1: “There were continuous airstrikes without any breaks. And we have no military men, no devils. We don’t even have gunmen around here. We couldn’t get to our children. There were some 20 bodies that I pulled out with my own hands and counted. Who is to blame for this?”

Mokha resident 2: “They killed women and children and elderly and young ones. How is this the fault of these innocent people? There are no Houthis here and no military bases. There is nothing here.”

Following the strikes, the Saudi-led coalition agreed to a five-day ceasefire to allow for the delivery of humanitarian aid and medical supplies in Yemen. The ceasefire took effect Sunday night at midnight, but within hours both sides said the other had resumed attack.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top