Yemen Condemns Mocha Attack, Urges Firm Int’l Stance against Houthis

Yemen's PM meets with the Dutch ambassador to Yemen in Riyadh. (Saba)
Yemen's PM meets with the Dutch ambassador to Yemen in Riyadh. (Saba)
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Yemen Condemns Mocha Attack, Urges Firm Int’l Stance against Houthis

Yemen's PM meets with the Dutch ambassador to Yemen in Riyadh. (Saba)
Yemen's PM meets with the Dutch ambassador to Yemen in Riyadh. (Saba)

The Yemeni government condemned on Sunday the attack by the Iran-backed Houthi militias against the Mocha port that left massive destruction at the facility.

The Houthis attacked the port, located west of the Taiz province, with missiles and armed drones on Saturday days after it had resumed operations that had come to a halt during the conflict. The attack destroyed warehouses that were being used by relief agencies to deliver humanitarian aid and others that were used by importers.

The Houthis launched the assault hours before a government delegation was set to arrive at the facility to officially kick off the resumption of its operations. No human casualties were reported.

The government urged the international community to take a firm stance against the Houthis.

Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalek accused the Houthis of insisting on deepening the humanitarian disaster that they caused when they revolted against the legitimate authority and sparked the war in late 2014.

He said the attack is an extension of the militias’ targeting of civilian locations and their systematic destruction of Yemen’s economic infrastructure.

Meeting in Riyadh with the Dutch ambassador to Yemen, he called on the international community to condemn the Houthi crimes and the militias’ constant escalation.

The crimes must not be met with silence, the PM demanded.



RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
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RSF Shelling On Camp Kills 8 in Sudan's Darfur, Say Rescuers

A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig
A view of a street in the city of Omdurman damaged in the year-long civil war in Sudan, April 7, 2024. REUTERS/El Tayeb Siddig

Rapid Support Forces (RSF) shelled a displacement camp in Sudan's Darfur region on Thursday, killing eight civilians and injuring others, a local rescue group said.

The bombardment hit Abu Shouk camp, which hosts tens of thousands of displaced people on the outskirts of El Fasher, the besieged capital of North Darfur.

El-Fasher remains the last major stronghold in Sudan's western Darfur region not under the control of the RSF, who have been at war with the regular army since April 2023, AFP reported.

"The Abu Shouk camp witnessed heavy artillery bombardment by the RSF... killing eight people," the camp's Emergency Response Room said in a statement.

In recent weeks, El-Fasher, which has been under RSF siege since last year, has been locked in intense fighting between warring sides in a region also gripped by famine.

Thursday's offensive comes just days after a series of attacks by the RSF targeted another battleground region of Sudan.

More than 450 people, including 35 children, were killed in several villages of North Kordofan, southwest of the capital Khartoum, according to a statement released this week by the UN's children agency.

"No child should ever experience such horrors," said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. "Violence against children is unconscionable and must end now."

On Sunday, the RSF claimed to have killed more than 470 army personnel near the town of El-Obeid, also in North Kordofan, in a statement posted to its Telegram channel.

Independent verification of casualties in Sudan remains difficult due to restricted access to its conflict zones.

Now in its third year, the conflict has killed tens of thousands and forced millions to flee, creating what the United Nations describes as the world's largest displacement crisis.

In December last year, famine was officially declared in three displacement camps near El-Fasher, namely Zamzam, Abu Shouk and Al-Salam, according to the UN.

Since the Sudanese army regained control of the capital Khartoum in March, the RSF has shifted its operations westward, focusing on Darfur and Kordofan in a bid to consolidate territorial gains.

In April, RSF fighters seized the Zamzam displacement camp, located near Abu Shouk.

The assault forced nearly 400,000 people to flee, according to UN figures, effectively emptying one of the country's largest camps for the displaced.

Sudanese analyst Mohaned el-Nour told AFP the RSF aims to redefine its role in the conflict.

"Their goal is no longer to be seen as a militia, but as an alternative government in western Sudan, undermining the legitimacy of the authorities in Port Sudan."

He added that the recent surge in violence in North Kordofan was likely intended to divert the army's attention from El Fasher, where the military is trying "at all costs" to maintain.