TA’IZZ, YEMEN — At least 25 civilians have been killed and 40 others injured following a series of devastating Saudi airstrikes on a bustling marketplace in Yemen’s southwestern province of Ta’izz.
The deadly attack unfolded on Friday at the al-Hadhara market in the al-Wazi’iyah district, striking at the peak of the bazaar’s daily commercial activity when the area was packed with shoppers and traders. According to local sources, Saudi warplanes carried out three consecutive airstrikes, causing widespread carnage.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree, the spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces, confirmed the details of the assault. He stated that a Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) F-15SA fighter jet took off from King Khalid Air Base in southwestern Saudi Arabia specifically to execute the three strikes before returning to its base.
“These brutal crimes will not go unanswered or unpunished,” Gen. Saree warned in a statement.
The scale of the devastation was vividly captured in footage broadcast by Al-Masirah television, which showed bodies and human remains scattered across the ruins of the market. Relatives of the victims frantically rushed to the scene to search for missing loved ones, while health authorities cautioned that the death toll is likely to rise as many of the wounded remain in critical condition.
This bloodshed is part of a disturbing pattern of targeting civilian economic hubs in the region. The strike occurred just four days after a similar Saudi-led attack on the al-Makh’af market in the al-Misrakh district of Ta’izz, which claimed the lives of at least eight people and injured dozens more.
Yemen’s Ministry of Human Rights has strongly denounced the repeated bombing of popular markets, characterising the violence as a deliberate policy of starvation and collective punishment intended to sever the economic lifelines of the Yemeni people. The ministry emphasised that targeting civilian sites protected under international humanitarian law—specifically citing Article 52 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions and Article 8 of the Rome Statute—constitutes a war crime. Officials have held the Saudi government in Riyadh fully responsible for the atrocities.
The latest civilian massacres arrive amidst a broader escalation in the regional conflict. Tensions spiked in July after Saudi Arabia bombed Sana’a International Airport, prompting Yemeni forces to declare a “blockade for blockade” policy and enforce an embargo on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea. In recent months, the Yemeni military has successfully targeted Saudi-linked vessels and launched retaliatory strikes deep inside the kingdom, further tightening its grip on the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
The ongoing conflict dates back to March 2015, when a Saudi-led coalition launched a massive military campaign and blockade aimed at reinstalling a favourable government in Sana’a. Despite the immense human cost and the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, the coalition has consistently failed to achieve its primary political objectives.
Reference: PressTv