KSrelief launches medical convoy to deliver aid to Yemen

Smoke rises after an airstrike hit an army base in Sanaa, Yemen, on Sunday. (AP)

RIYADH/ADEN: King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSrelief) on Sunday dispatched a convoy loaded with 17 containers of medical supplies and equipment to Yemen, Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, Royal Court and KSrelief Supervisor, said Sunday.
The convoy consisted of 11 containers carrying 279 types of medical supplies to the Republican Hospital in Aden and 25 types of medical equipment and supplies for the central medicinal and pharmacology storage units at the Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Housing in Aden. It also included six containers headed to Marib General Hospital Authority containing 235 types of medical supplies.
He said another ground convoy to Taiz will take place soon. The Center delivers and monitors humanitarian assistance in coordination with local partners and UN organizations as well as the legitimate Yemeni government.
Al-Rabeeah urged the UN to carry out its responsibilities via its organizations operating in the Yemen to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid. He said the Center monitors its assistance until supplies reach the beneficiaries.
Dr. Abdulraqeeb Al-Haidari, the Yemeni deputy assistant minister of Public Health and Housing, expressed the Yemeni government’s appreciations to King Salman’s humanitarian gesture.
“The medical supplies donated today by the Center come at a time when hospitals are in extreme need for such aid due to the negatively affected work of the Ministry of Health, hospitals and medical clinics, and halted medical services, resulting in the spread of diseases such as cholera and others,” he said.
“Such conditions requires intensified efforts in this regard and provision of medical assistance in order to reduce the volume of health crises.”
Meanwhile, Yemeni Premier Ahmed Obaid bin Dagher said the project of the coup d’état is approaching its end. The will of the Yemeni people will prevail in the end.
During a meeting in Aden on Sunday with defense and interior officials, bin Dagher said that “a great successes loom on the horizon.”
He noted the triumphs of the armed, security forces and popular resistance backing Arab alliance at the front line, especially at areas adjacent to Bab Al-Mandab Strait, a key maritime route connecting the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
On the ground, heavy clashes between Houthi rebels and pro-government forces in Yemen killed at least 66 people in 24 hours, medics and security sources said Sunday.
Air raids by a Saudi-led coalition and fighting near the strategic Bab Al-Mandab Strait killed at least 52 Houthi rebels and allied troops loyal to ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the sources said.
Fourteen members of pro-government forces were also killed.
The rebels took their dead to a military hospital in Hodeida, a major western port city they control, a medical source told AFP.
The hospital received 14 dead on Saturday and 38 on Sunday, as well as 55 wounded rebels, the source said.
On the pro-government side, 14 soldiers were killed and 22 wounded, according to medics in the southern port city of Aden where President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s government is based.
Coalition warplanes and Apache attack helicopters have been pounding rebels for several days in support of pro-Hadi forces attempting to retake the Red Sea city of Mokha, military sources said.
Pro-Hadi forces launched an offensive on Jan. 7 to retake the region overlooking the Bab Al-Mandab Strait. By Sunday, Hadi forces were within 10 km of Mokha, they said, but mines laid by rebel forces have slowed the offensive.