37 dead, 80 injured as dairy in Yemen bombed

SANAA: At least 37 workers were killed when a dairy in western Yemen was bombed overnight, an official said on Wednesday after a seventh night of Saudi-led air strikes against the Yemeni rebels.
Eighty others were wounded at the plant in Hodeida, provincial governor Hasan al-Hai said, without specifying whether the factory was hit by an air strike or rebel shelling.The head of the provincial health authorities, Abdulrahman Jarallah, gave a slightly different toll of 35 people killed and dozens wounded.
The circumstances of the bombing were unclear, with some witnesses saying the dairy was hit by a coalition air strike and others blaming the rebel forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
At least 19 people were killed in fighting in Aden, medics and security officials said, as Saudi-led operations focused on Yemen’s south.Meanwhile, a military official close to the Houthi rebels said that they lost eight men in the clashes.
Coalition spokesman Brigadier General Ahmed Assiri told reporters in Riyadh that the latest Saudi-led operations had targeted rebel brigades in Daleh, Aden and Shabwa, all provinces in Yemen’s south.
“Operations in regions and roads leading to Aden were intensified and have been fruitful,” he said at the daily briefing, without giving details.Meanwhile, Yemen’s foreign minister called for a Saudi-led military coalition targeting Yemeni rebels in his country to send ground troops.
“Yes I’m calling for this (ground forces) because I think at some stage air strikes will be ineffective,” Riyadh Yassin said during an interview in the Saudi capital, where he has taken refuge along with President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Yassin said ground forces would cause “less civilian casualties” but added the main reason he proposes a land operation was to enable aid deliveries. “I am suggesting starting as soon as possible,” he added.
A Western diplomatic source on Wednesday said that a land offensive would be “very, very complicated and difficult”, partly because it would have to pass mountainous terrain in the country’s north, with which the Houthi rebels are highly familiar.
The source ruled out a seaborne landing because the coalition lacks amphibious forces.But the foreign minister said troops could come in from the south, around the port city of Aden, which would be relatively easy to secure and could become a safe haven for humanitarian operations.
Aid agencies said on Tuesday they could not get assistance into Yemen.The closure of the country’s international airports and restrictions on seaports are hampering delivery, Doctors Without Borders said.
Assiri said all kinds of assistance for Yemen’s needy were welcome but the movement of aid needs to be coordinated with the military “to make sure that we don’t have any mistakes or any misunderstandings concerning the movement in the ports or airports or through the Saudi border.”
Amnesty International accused the coalition of “turning a blind eye” to civilian deaths but Assiri said, “The coalition takes all care” to avoid hurting the innocent.“I’m much concerned” about the civilian impact, Yassin said, adding that any blame should lie with the Houthis, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and Iran.