That province is also a gateway to Saada, the rebels' northern stronghold, where Saudi planes have been dropping fliers urging people to support the "legitimate" government of internationally-recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The rebels have seized several regions of Yemen. Also on Sunday, a bomb exploded near the vacated US Embassy in Sanaa and unknown gunmen shot and killed a senior security official in the southern port city of Aden. Over 4,300 people have died in five months of war in Yemen while disease and suffering in the impoverished country have spread. Human rights group Amnesty global said in a report this month that the campaign had left a "bloody trail of civilian death" which could amount to war crimes. The governor said that along with the 3,000 highly-trained soldiers, there are thousands of pro-government forces that are amassing in the province. The strike is said to have been initiated by an alliance targeting the Houthi forces. Similarly, residential areas in the provinces of Ma'rib and Hudaydah were targeted. The World Food Programme recently warned that the country, one of the poorest in the Arab world even before fighting flared up, was on the brink of starvation. Approximately 21 million people, or 80 percent of the total population, lack access to clean drinking water and are in need of some additional form of humanitarian aid. Most bodies transferred to the main public hospital in Hajja were charred, according to medics. "The situation is absolutely critical". Over the course of the last month, however, pro-Hadi forces - backed by Saudi-led air power - appear to have retaken most of Aden, to which some Yemeni government officials have reportedly returned. It is estimated that more than half a million children will suffer from severe acute malnutrition by the end of the year.

 

SL