More than 70 people were killed in an airstrike by a Saudi-led coalition on a prison in a Houthi-held city, Saada, in northern Yemen on 21 January.
Observers believe violence has increased since Saudi Arabia used bribes and threats to shut down the UN’s ‘Group of Eminent Experts in Yemen’ in October. The human rights panel was investigating war crimes in Yemen.
At least five million people in Yemen are on the edge of famine. Food prices increased by 30 – 70 percent in 2021, as the value of the riyal halved against the US dollar.
Campaign Against Arms Trade estimates that Britain has sold over £20bn worth of arms to the Saudi-led coalition since the Yemen war started in 2015.
Save the Children say that civilian casualties increased by 60 percent in the last three months of 2021.
The Yemen Data Project reported that coalition air strikes and civilian casualties increased in December, with 32 civilians killed and 62 injured.
In the port city of Hodeidah, also held by the Houthis, another coalition airstrike on 21 January killed at least three children. It also destroyed a telecommunications hub, leading to a national loss of internet service.
The strikes followed a Houthi drone attack centred on an oil facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). UAE-backed forces in Yemen have made major advances against the rebels in December and January.