...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the
Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is
God is Great, Death to America™, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews...
militia of carrying out an attack on a hospital and fish market in Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...that killed dozens of people.
Coalition front man Col. Turki al-Maliki said the Iran-backed group targeted the sites in the port of Hodeidah on Thursday with mortar shells in what he described as a "terrorist attack."
Initial reports said more than 20 people were killed in the attack which hit near al-Thawra Hospital ‐ one of the county’s biggest. But the Red Thingy on Friday said the series of kaboom in Hodeidah had killed 55 with dozens more injured.
Pro-Houthi media accused the Arab coalition of carrying out an
"These targets were not from the coalition and the weaponry used was mortars, which are from the Houthis," he said.
The front man presented evidence including pictures he said showed the Houthi mortars used in the attack and maps of Hodeidah showing coalition targets in relation to the location of the hospital.
He said the nearest Houthi position targeted by the coalition on the day of the hospital attack was a weapons storage facility 7.5km from the hospital, east of Hodeidah. A day earlier, on Tuesday, the coalition hit a target 2.5km away from the hospital.
Hodeidah, the country’s largest port, is still held by the Houthis. Pro-government forces backed by the coalition were close to capturing the city before pausing the offensive last month to allow UN mediation efforts to continue.
Al-Maliki said the UN had received "incorrect reports from invalid organizations" which had blamed the coalition.
He said the coalition had aways applied the highest international and humanitarian standards in its targeting operations in Yemen.
Earlier, Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen, condemned the hospital attack as "shocking".