Saudi Airstrike Destroys Yemen Hotel, Kills at Least 60

Many Civilians Among the Slain in Attack

Jason Ditz 

Posted onAugust 23, 2017CategoriesNewsTagsSaudi Arabia, Yemen

Saudi warplanes attacked the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, hitting a hotel in the northern Arhab District. At least 60 people were killed and over a dozen wounded in the attack. The hotel collapsed more or less entirely, and aid workers are still recovering bodies from the site.

The attack appears to have been deliberate, with officials saying it was against a “legitimate military target,” requested by the Saudi-backed southern Yemeni government, and that Shi’ite “renegades” were present in the hotel, the apparent target. It being a hotel in a major city, however, there were obviously many civilians within, also killed.

This is the deadliest single attack so far.in 2017. It is not the deadliest attack of the war, however, which was an October incident in which the Saudis bombed a funeral procession, killing at least 140 people.

The Saudis have been under growing criticism for the huge civilian death toll their air war has caused. The number of airstrikes have been on the rise through 2017, and the civilian death toll resulting from them has already far surpassed the whole toll of 2016.

http://news.antiwar.com/2017/08/23/saudi-airstrike-destroys-yemen-hotel-kills-at-least-60/