Aden situation catastrophic as battles intensify, says Red Cross

Aden: The Red Cross warned on Tuesday of a “catastrophic” situation in Yemen’s main southern city Aden, as loyalist forces battled rebels in the streets, backed by shelling by Saudi Arabia-led warships. [caption id=“attachment_2184107” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] The Iran-backed Houthi Shiite rebels and their allies made a new push on a port in the Mualla district but were forced back by militia loyal to fugitive President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, witnesses said. Naval forces of the Saudi-led coalition, which has carried out nearly two weeks of air strikes in support of Mr Hadi’s government, shelled rebel positions in the city, they said. Spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen, Marie Claire Feghali, said that the humanitarian situation in all of Yemen was “very difficult … (with) naval, air and ground routes cut off”. She described the situation in Aden as “catastrophic to say the least”. Ms Feghali said that “the war in Aden is on every street, in every corner … many are unable to escape”. Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said that the situation was “worsening by the day”, with wounded people unable to get to hospital because of the fighting. The MSF medical team in Aden had “not received large numbers of casualties over the past few days, not because there are no wounded people, but due to the difficulties faced in trying to reach a hospital,” MSF Yemen representative Marie-Elisabeth Ingres said. At least 10 people were killed in fighting in Aden on Monday night and on Tuesday morning, medical sources said. It was on top of at least 53 people killed over the previous 24 hours. Nationwide, more than 540 people have been killed and 1,700 wounded in fighting in Yemen since March 19, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday. The United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) said at least 74 children had been confirmed killed since the coalition air strikes began on March 26, adding that it believed the real figure to be much higher. More than 100,000 people have been displaced by the fighting, Unicef said. Further east, al-Qaeda’s Yemen franchise — seen by the US as the jihadist network’s most dangerous — sought to tighten its grip on Hadramawt province, a longtime stronghold. Residents reported explosions as the jihadists attacked a loyalist army base in the provincial capital Mukalla, much of which they captured last week. Observers have warned that al-Qaeda could exploit the fighting between Gen Hadi’s supporters and opponents to expand its control following the withdrawal of US troops. AFP