A day after Yemen's Saudi-backed government offered to restart peace talks with Houthi rebels, Saudi-led airstrikes pummeled an airport in Sanaa. International appeals for a ceasefire have had no effect on the war.
Image: Reuters/K. Abdullah
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The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen attacked Sanaa International Airport and an adjoining air base being used by Houthi insurgents, the coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki told Saudi state-run Ekhbariya TV on Friday.
"This operation includes targeting of ballistic-missile launch and storage locations... bomb-making and assembly workshops and their support locations in al-Dulaimiair base in Sanaa," al-Malki said.
He said the airport was still open to air traffic from the United Nations and other relief agencies.
The coalition had also massed thousands of troops near the port of Hodeidah, some 150 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, on Wednesday, local media reported. According to residents and military sources, fighting broke out there on Friday.
The bombing in the rebel-held Sanaa came a day after the Saudi-backed government offered to restart peace talks with the insurgents.
The UN aims to relaunch talks
On Wednesday, the United Nations said that it aims to relaunch the talks "within a month." Sweden has offered to host such talks.
The United States also called for an end to the three-and-a-half-year war that has driven impoverished Yemen to the verge of famine.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday stepped up pressure on the coalition and urged Riyadh to refrain from airstrikes.
"We've got to move toward a peace effort here. And we can't say we're going to do it sometime in the future. We need to be doing this in the next 30 days," Mattis said.
He added that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates appeared ready to embrace UN efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict.
Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed and thousands more displaced in what the UN has described as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
A Yemeni street artist has invited locals in cities around the world to draw images of their choice on the street, with the over-arching theme of highlighting Yemen's plight. Gouri Sharma reports.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/C. Gateau
Raising awareness
Participants across 10 cities from the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe backed the recent "Open Day for Art" event organized by prominent Yemeni street artist Murad Subay. For four years in a row, Subay has been curating the art day to bring together people — young, old, artists and students — to promote peace and raise awareness of the ongoing war in Yemen.
Image: Najeeb Subay
A message for peace
Speaking after the event, which was held simultaneously in six places in Yemen including in Maarib city (pictured), Subay said: "The message of this event is really simple. This is about expressing what participants hope, what they believe and what they feel during this difficult time for our country. It's also about promoting peace, since war, borders and politics are dividing people."
More than 100 people showed up for the campaign in the South Korean city of Gwangju. Chief organizer, Man-Hee Lees, a war veteran who fought in the Korean war, said they got involved because of the positive impact. "Peace cannot be achieved by any one person, but I could see that through the meeting between us and Murad, the hearts that can cease wars and eventually bring peace could come closer."
Image: Heavenly Culture/World Peace/Restoration of Light Organization
Strong show of support
There was a strong showing of participants from the southwestern city of Taiz, which hosted the event alongside other Yemeni cities, including Aden and Hudaydah. The conflict is seen as a proxy battle between regional superpowers Iran and Saudi Arabia. More than 5,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting. The UN says Yemen could become the worst humanitarian disaster in the last 50 years.
Image: Odina for Artistic Production
A deeper message
Artist Safa’a Ahmed organized the event at an orphanage in Antananarivo, the capital city of Madagascar. "To draw for peace, there are no other people to work with than kids. And to draw with kids who have lost their parents, brings a deeper message because what war does is make a lot of kids orphans."
Image: Raissa Firdaws
Putting a smile on it
In the South Korean capital Seoul, the Yemeni Student Union collaborated with the cultural diversity organization, World Culture Open, to host the event.
Image: Yemeni Student Union/World Culture Open
Parisians show their support
Around 25 people from Paris took part in the campaign. Organizer Khadija Al Salami, a filmmaker, explained why she got involved. "It was very important to participate with Murad during this crucial time where Yemeni people are forced to go through such a devastating war that kills innocent people and destroys everything beautiful around them."
Image: Khadija Al-Salami
Peace campaign picks up speed
Murad’s art campaigns have been internationally recognized for raising awareness about the impact of the war on civilians, including forced disappearances, the cholera epidemic and drone strikes. Over the coming months, he says, more artists from across the globe will join his campaign, and there are plans for the same event to be held in cities in Canada, America and Djibouti.
