Eleven killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Yemen's Hodeida

Saudi-led coalition warplanes struck targets in the eastern Yemeni port city of Hodeida on Wednesday evening, killing at least 11 people, including women and children, Yemeni security officials said.

A dozen wounded were brought to the hospital after the raid, which left several residential areas in rubble, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to brief journalists.

Local sources told The New Arab that coalition jets were targeting the city’s presidential palace controlled by Houthi rebels, but struck nearby residential neighbourhoods.

The raids come hours after Houthis held a rally in the city to commemorate the second anniversary of their takeover of the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Last week, a study found that more than a third of all airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen have hit civilian sites, including school buildings, hospitals, markets and mosques.

The findings of the survey, which was conducted by the Yemen Data Project, run contrary to claims by Riyadh that the coalition is diligently avoiding civilian casualties. 

Based on open-source data, the survey recorded over 8,600 aerial attacks between the start of the Saudi coalition's campaign in March 2015 and August 2016. 

The data shows that 3,577 of these strikes hit military targets, while 3,158 struck non-military sites.

The study identified 1,882 "unknown" strikes, where the nature of the target could not be identified.

A market in Sirwah, Marib governorate, was found to have been struck 24 times, while a school in the Taiz governorate in the Yemeni highlands has been bombed nine times.

Also listed are 942 attacks on residential areas, 114 on markets, 34 on mosques, 147 on schools, 26 on universities and 378 on transport.

The data also lists repeated attacks on certain civilian targets, further calling into question whether the Saudi coalition is taking precautions to avoid civilians.

A market in Sirwah, Marib governorate, was found to have been struck 24 times, while a school in the Taiz governorate in the Yemeni highlands has been bombed nine times.

Such incidences undermine Saudi claims that their forces are using precision weapons manned by trained professionals.

Nonetheless, the kingdom has defended its aerial campaign over Yemen and has blamed the Houthi rebels for militarising civilian sites.

In response to questioning about the reports, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said that the Houthis have "turned schools and hospitals and mosques into command and control centres. 

"They have turned them into weapons depots in a way that they are no longer civilian targets. They are military targets. They might have been a school a year ago. But they were not a school when they were bombed," said Jubeir.

According to the United Nations, more than 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the start of the Saudi-led coalition's bombing campaign 18 months ago.

The war's exacerbation of Yemen's dire humanitarian situation has drawn mass condemnation from rights groups and international bodies, who have accused both sides in Yemen's conflict of war crimes.