China closes embassy after Yemen violence escalates
Print Edition
CHINA has temporarily closed its embassy and consulate general in Yemen because of worsening security there, the Chinese foreign ministry said yesterday.
Two Chinese navy ships have evacuated 613 Chinese citizens and 279 foreigners from the county, the ministry also said, marking the first time that China’s military has helped other countries evacuate their people during an international crisis.
Violence has been spreading across Yemen since last year, when Shiite Houthi fighters seized the capital Sanaa and effectively removed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. A Saudi-led coalition has hit the rebels with airstrikes over the past week.
Explosions shook the suburbs of the Yemeni port city of Aden yesterday as residents reported a foreign warship shelling Houthi positions on the outskirts of the city.
For several days, street fighting and heavy shelling has torn through the capital city, the last bastion of support for Saudi-backed presidenti.
Twelve days of bombing by the Saudi-led coalition has failed to halt the advance of the Iran-allied Houthis that has triggered a growing humanitarian crisis for residents in central districts now cut off from the mainland.
Relief from outside appeared distant as the International Committee of the Red Cross told reporters yesterday that it had yet to arrange a flight to deliver 48 tons of medical supplies despite gaining Saudi approval.
Food, water and electricity shortages have mounted throughout the country but especially in Aden, where combat has shut ports and cut land routes linking the city to the outside.
“How are we supposed to live without water and electricity?” said Fatima, a housewife walking through the city streets with her young children.
She clutched a yellow plastic jerry can, like dozens of other residents on the streets and in queues seeking water from public wells or mosque faucets after home supplies dried up.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, which for days blamed the Saudi-led coalition for delays, said Saudi Arabia had granted permission for an aid shipment before midnight on Saturday but problems in chartering planes would likely delay the aid’s arrival in the Yemeni capital for at least a day.
“We are still working on getting the plane to Sanaa. It’s a bit difficult with the logistics because there are not that many companies or cargo planes willing to fly into a conflict zone,” said spokeswoman Marie Claire Feghali.
“We have very high hopes, given the clearance from the coalition and also the Yemenis, that we will be able to get the 48 tons of medical supplies in tomorrow or the day after,” she added.
Eight Houthi fighters were killed in an airstrike before dawn in the suburbs of the northern city of Saadah, home of the Shiite Muslim movement which spread from its mountain stronghold to take over Sanaa six months ago.
Local officials said strikes also hit air defense and coastal military units near the Red Sea port of Hodaida, and targets on the outskirts of Aden.
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