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World

Kachin, Myanmar: Dozens killed by military airstrikes during celebration event

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CNN
 — 

Dozens of people have been killed in military airstrikes that hit a celebratory event in Myanmar’s mountainous Kachin state on Sunday, according to local news outlets and international organizations.

Victims had been attending an event, including a concert, held by the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to mark the 62nd anniversary of the group’s political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization, according to Reuters, citing KIA spokesperson Naw Bu.

Reuters and local news outlet The Irrawaddy reported at least 50 people were killed.

CNN cannot independently verify the number of reported deaths and has reached out to the military for comment.

Kachin Alliance, a Kachin community organization based in Washington, DC, said Kachin artists, local elders, and KIO leaders were among those killed.

“In the aftermath of the massacre, families were scrambling to obtain news about their loved ones due to a prolonged internet blackout in Hpakant,” the statement said. “We are also concerned to learn the report of blocking of medical access to victims of massacre.”

Myanmar has been wracked by conflict since the military junta seized power in a coup last February. Rights groups and observers say since then, freedoms and rights in the country have deteriorated; state executions have returned and the number of documented violent attacks by the army on schools has surged.

Numerous armed rebel groups have emerged, while millions of others continue resisting the junta’s rule through strikes, boycotts and other forms of civil disobedience.

Myanmar’s shadow government, the National Unity Government – a group of ousted lawmakers, coup opponents and ethnic minority group representatives – condemned the attack in a statement on Monday, saying the military had “deliberately committed another mass killing.”

The attack “clearly violates international laws as the provisions of the Geneva Conventions,” it said in the statement, urging the international community and United Nations to “take effective actions urgently.”

The NUG operates undercover or through members abroad, seeking to gain recognition as the legitimate government of Myanmar.

The attack on Sunday drew international condemnation, with the United Nations saying it was concerned over reports of more than 100 civilians impacted.

“While the UN continues to verify the details of this attack, we offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of all those who were killed or injured. The UN calls for those injured to be availed urgent medical treatment, as needed,” it said in a statement on Monday.

It added that the military’s “excessive and disproportionate” use of force against unarmed civilians was “unacceptable,” and called on those responsible to be held to account.

The ambassadors of Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States also issued a joint statement condemning the strike on Monday.

“This attack underscores the military regime’s responsibility for crisis and instability in Myanmar and the region and its disregard for its obligation to protect civilians and respect the principles and rules of international humanitarian law,” the joint statement read.

Non-profit organization Amnesty International said in a statement the military’s actions – including executing pro-democracy activists, jailing journalists and targeting civilians – have been allowed to continue “in the face of an ineffective international response.”

“As officials and leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) prepare to host high-level meetings in the coming weeks, this attack highlights the need to overhaul the approach to the crisis in Myanmar,” the statement said, urging ASEAN leaders to take action when they meet for their annual summit in November.

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World

Syria says Israeli airstrikes target Damascus, south

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Syria said Israeli missiles targeted areas near Damascus late Friday, the first alleged Israeli airstrike on the country in over a month.

State media claimed that missiles were shot down over the capital and closer to the border with Israel.

“Our air defenses intercepted Israeli missile strikes in the airspace of Damascus and the southern region,” Syria’s official news agency SANA said.

The alleged attack would be the first since September 17, when an apparent Israeli strike around the capital Damascus killed five soldiers last month.

In June, Israeli airstrikes put Damascus airport out of service for nearly two weeks.

A pair of sorties targeting the Aleppo airport in early September also forced that facility to shut down.

The alleged strike comes a day after Israel’s military launched a week-long drill across the country’s north.

Since civil war erupted in Syria in 2011, Israel has carried out hundreds of strikes against its northern neighbor, targeting government troops as well as allied Iran-backed forces and Hezbollah fighters. Syria regularly claims to have intercepted most Israeli missiles, which analysts generally dismiss as empty boasts.

While Israel rarely comments on individual strikes, it has acknowledged carrying out hundreds.

It says its air campaign is necessary to stop arch-foe Iran gaining a foothold on its doorstep.

The rare lull in strikes coincided with high-stakes negotiations to settle a longstanding maritime dispute between Israel and Lebanon that ended in an agreement earlier this month. A brief hiccup in the talks had briefly raised tensions along the northern frontier with Lebanon-based Hezbollah.

Earlier this week, a senior Israeli defense official and two senior Western diplomats told the New York Times that Russia had removed its S-300 anti-aircraft system from Syria to bolster its war effort against Syria, a move that could give Israel more freedom over Syria’s skies even as ties with Moscow have cratered.

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US

Biden orders airstrikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria following attacks near base holding US troops last week

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The airstrikes conducted by the US military targeted Iranian-backed groups in Deir ez-Zor Syria, US Central Command said in a statement. The strikes targeted “infrastructure facilities used by groups affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” Col. Joe Buccino, a spokesman for CENTCOM, said in the statement.

“At President Biden’s direction, US military forces conducted precision airstrikes in Deir ez-Zor Syria today. These precision strikes are intended to defend and protect US forces from attacks like the ones on August 15 against US personnel by Iran-backed groups,” he said, referring to last week’s attack on the Green Village base near the Iraqi border. That attack did not result in damage or injuries.

Biden, according to the statement, “gave the direction for these strikes pursuant to his Article II authority to protect and defend US personnel by disrupting or deterring attacks by Iran-backed groups.”

Buccino told CNN the US targeted a group of bunkers used for ammunition storage and logistics support by Iranian-backed groups in Syria. The US military monitored a total of 13 bunkers in the same complex extensively, Buccino said, totaling more than 400 hours of surveillance.

The strike was intended to target 11 of the bunkers, since the US could not be certain whether the other two bunkers were clear of people, Buccino said.

But shortly before CENTCOM carried out the strike, the military waved off two more of the bunkers because of a small group of people nearby. In the end, Buccino said the military struck nine bunkers in the complex in eastern Syria.

The goal of the strike was to destroy the bunkers, Buccino said, and according to an initial assessment, no one was killed as a result.

“The strike in eastern Syria was in response to attacks by Iran-backed groups against US forces in Syria on August 15th and demonstrates our resolve to defend US forces and equipment,” said Gen. Erik Kurilla, the commander of US Central Command.

Though the airstrike on the bunkers was in response to the August 15 attack, Buccino said the bunkers were not used by Iranian-backed militias to carry out that particular attack.

The base attacked earlier this month holds a “small number” of coalition forces, including US service members, one official previously said. Several of the rockets failed to launch and were recovered by forces from the US-led coalition and Syrian Democratic Forces. And earlier last week, multiple drones were repelled in an attack near the At-Tanf base in southern Syria.

At the time of last week’s strikes, the coalition did not say who was responsible for either of the attacks. However, Iranian-backed militias in the region have frequently targeted US troops in Syria and Iraq.

In January, the US military conducted strikes in Syria after indirect fire posed what a US-led coalition official called “an imminent threat” to troops near Green Village.

The US maintains approximately 900 troops in Syria, largely split between the At-Tanf base and the country’s eastern oil fields.

This story has been updated with additional details.

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World

Israeli airstrikes kill senior lslamic Jihad leader

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Islamic Jihad said in a statement that one of its senior leaders, Tayseer Al Jabari, had been killed in an Israeli strike. He was a commander in the Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, the group said, and a member of its Military Council.

The Palestinian health ministry said at least nine people were killed, including a five-year-old girl, and another 55 were injured.

A CNN producer in Gaza saw medics carrying two bodies out of a building called the Palestine Tower that had been hit in one of the strikes.

An Israeli army statement said the military operation — which it called ‘Breaking Dawn’ — was targeted Islamic Jihad, the smaller of the two main militant groups in Gaza. A “special situation” has been declared in areas around Gaza, in anticipation of possible rocket fire, or other retaliatory attacks, the Israeli army said.

Islamic Jihad has vowed to respond. “All options are open, with all means that the Palestinian resistance has, whether in Gaza or outside,” spokesman Daoud Shehab said on Al Jazeera. “The battlefield is open … The resistance will respond with all force. We will not say how, but it is inevitable.”

Hamas, the militant group which controls Gaza, has condemned the Israeli action. “The Israeli enemy, who started the escalation against Gaza and committed a new crime, must pay the price and bear full responsibility for it,” spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said.

The strikes come after Israeli forces captured a senior Islamic Jihad commander, Bassam al-Saadi, during a raid on Monday night in the occupied West Bank town of Jenin.

During that operation, a 17-year-old Palestinian linked to Islamic Jihad was shot dead in an exchange of gunfire with Israeli soldiers, according to the Israeli military. The Palestinian health ministry said he had been shot in the head by Israeli forces.

Saadi was one of two wanted terror suspects apprehended in that raid, Israel said. The Quds Brigade, the armed wing of Islamic Jihad, said it was mobilizing its forces across the Palestinian territories in response.

Recent months have seen repeated Israeli operations in and around Jenin, after several fatal attacks inside Israel were carried out by Palestinian gunmen from the region. Thirty Palestinians have been killed in the raids since the start of the year, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

Developing story, more to follow…

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World

New Russian airstrikes target Black Sea regions of Ukraine

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia targeted Ukraine’s southern Black Sea regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv with airstrikes Tuesday, hitting private buildings and port infrastructure with missiles fired from long-range bomber aircraft, the Ukrainian military said.

In the Odesa region, buildings in coastal villages were hit and caught fire, Ukraine’s Operational Command South said on Facebook. A Ukrainian air force spokesman said long-range Russian Tu-22M3 bombers and Su-30 and Su-35 fighter jets launched the strikes from the Black Sea. In the Mykolaiv region, port infrastructure was targeted despite agreements intended to allow grain grain shipments to resume from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

Hours after the strikes, a Moscow-installed official in southern Ukraine said the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions would soon be “liberated” by Russian forces, just like the already occupied Kherson region further east.

“The Kherson region and the city of Kherson have been liberated forever,” Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted the region’s Russia-appointed official, Kirill Stremousov, as saying.

On the diplomatic front, Russia’s top diplomat repeated his insistence that Moscow was ready to hold talks with Ukraine on ending the war, though he once again claimed that Kyiv’s Western allies oppose a deal.

“We never refused to have talks, because everybody knows that any hostilities end at the negotiating table,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday during a trip to Uganda.

He said negotiations have gone no further since a meeting between the two sides in Istanbul at the end of March.

While Ukrainian officials have spoken of a possible counteroffensive in the south, the British Defense Ministry said Tuesday there was no indication a Ukrainian warship and a stockpile of anti-ship missiles were at Odesa’s port, as Moscow claimed when it struck the site over the weekend.

The British ministry said Russia sees Ukraine’s use of anti-ship missiles as “a key threat” limiting its Black Sea Fleet.

“This has significantly undermined the overall invasion plan, as Russia cannot realistically attempt an amphibious assault to seize Odesa,” the ministry said. “Russia will continue to prioritize efforts to degrade and destroy Ukraine’s anti-ship capability.”

It added that “Russia’s targeting processes are highly likely routinely undermined by dated intelligence, poor planning, and a top-down approach to operations.”

In other military developments, Russian shelling over the previous 24 hours killed at least three civilians and wounded eight more in Ukraine, the Ukrainian president’s office said Tuesday.

In the eastern Donetsk region, where the fighting has been focused in recent months, shelling continued along the entire front line, with Russian forces targeting some of the region’s largest cities, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Toretsk, the presidential office said.

Donetsk regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko accused Russian troops of using cluster munitions and repeated his call for civilians to evacuate.

“There is not a single safe place left. Everything is being shelled,” Kyrylenko said in televised remarks. “But there are still evacuation routes for the civilian population.”

The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, reported that Moscow was using mercenaries from the shadowy Wagner Group to capture the Vuhledar Power Plant on the northern outskirts of the Bakhmut region village of Novoluhanske.

But Russian forces have made “limited gains” there, according to Ukraine’s General Staff.

The main regional Russian focus for the moment is on capturing Bakhmut, which the Russian military needs to press its eastern offensive on the Ukrainian strongholds in Donetsk, the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk.

“Russian forces made marginal gains south of Bakhmut but are unlikely to be able to effectively leverage these advances to take full control of Bakhmut itself,” the Institute for the Study of War said.

Russian forces continued to strike civilian infrastructure in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, and the surrounding region in the country’s northeast.

Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said the strikes on the city resumed around dawn Tuesday and damaged a car dealership.

“The Russians deliberately target civilian infrastructure objects — hospitals, schools, movie theaters,” Syniehubov told Ukrainian television. “Everything is being fired at, even queues for humanitarian aid, so we’re urging people to avoid mass gatherings.”

The Moldovan foreign ministry said Tuesday said a Moldovan citizen was killed and another wounded in what it claimed was a Ukrainian attack on Russia’s border with Ukraine. The unconfirmed report said the attack occurred at a border checkpoint in Russia’s Bryansk region.

Responding to Lavrov’s comment Monday that Moscow’s overarching goal in Ukraine is to free its people from its “unacceptable regime,” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Moscow wants “the complete subjugation of Ukraine and its people.”

“We must be prepared for this war — which Russia is conducting with absolute brutality, and is conducting in a way that no one else would — to last months,” Baerbock said during a visit to Prague.

In other developments Tuesday:

— European Union governments agreed to ration natural gas this winter to protect against Russian supply cuts. EU energy ministers approved a draft law designed to lower demand for gas by 15% from August through March. The legislation entails voluntary national steps to reduce gas consumption and, if they yield insufficient savings, a trigger for mandatory actions. Russian energy corporation Gazprom said it would cut gas flows through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline to Germany to 20% of capacity starting Wednesday.

— Russia’s space chief said the country will opt out of the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own orbiting outpost. Yuri Borisov, appointed earlier this month to lead the state-controlled space corporation Roscosmos, said Russia would fulfill its obligations at the space station before it leaves the project. The move is part of a broader disengagement trend stemming from soaring tensions between Russia and the West over the Kremlin’s military action in Ukraine.

— Britain imposed sanctions on two national Russian government officials overseeing justice and two top regional officials in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine. Also facing sanctions are several Syrian military figures accused of recruiting Syrians to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

— German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said her country has delivered previously announced Mars II multiple-launch rocket systems, along with three more howitzers, to Ukraine. Lambrecht said Germany also has delivered five of a pledged 30 Gepard self-propelled armored anti-aircraft guns, German news agency dpa reported.

— The Russian military announced plans to hold large-scale drills in Russia’s east, noting that it continues regular troop training despite the action in Ukraine. The Russian Defense Ministry said Tuesday the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise is scheduled for Aug. 30-Sept. 5. It added that airborne troops, long-range bombers and military cargo planes will participate.

___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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World

Russia targets western-supplied tanks in first Kyiv airstrikes for five weeks | Ukraine

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Russia launched airstrikes on Kyiv for the first time in five weeks on Sunday, claiming it had destroyed western-supplied tanks – while the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, warned more targets would be struck if weapons deliveries continued.

Several explosions were heard around the eastern Kyiv suburbs of Darnytskyi and Dniprovskyi early on Sunday morning, wounding one person. The strikes represented a change of tack on the part of the invading forces.

Russia’s ministry of defence said the strikes had destroyed T-72 tanks that had been provided to Ukraine by European countries that were being stored in the buildings of a car repair business, although the claim could not immediately be verified.

Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said “one victim was hospitalised” in the incident. Sergei Leshchenko, a member of the Ukrainian railway company’s supervisory board, added that its facilities had been struck.

They were the first bombing raids on any part of the capital since the end of April and appear to represent an attempt to strike supply lines from Kyiv to the east, where both sides are embroiled an intense battle for control of Donbas.

Perhaps signalling the new approach, Putin told Rossiya state television that Russia would hit fresh targets in Ukraine if the US delivered the longer-range rockets that it had promised to Kyiv last week.

If such missiles were supplied, “we will strike at those targets which we have not yet been hitting”, said Putin, who is believed to be closely involved in military decision-making. The Russian leader did not specify what would be struck, although logistics points would be amongst the most logical targets.

Russia has been irritated by the US decision to supply Ukraine with Himars truck-mounted multiple-launch rocket systems, with missiles that have a range of about 20 to 40 miles, greater than anything in Kyiv’s armoury.

“All this fuss around additional deliveries of weapons, in my opinion, has only one goal: to drag out the armed conflict as much as possible,” Putin said in his TV interview.

Ukraine and the west believe the rockets could help Kyiv prevent Russian forces massing behind the frontlines for future attacks, but Putin argued it would not bring on any significant change to the military balance.

“We understand that this supply [of advance rocket systems] from the United States and some other countries is meant to make up for the losses of this military equipment,” Putin said. “This is nothing new. It doesn’t change anything in essence.”

Ukraine’s nuclear energy company Energoatom also warned that a Russian cruise missile had come dangerously close to the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant, in the south of the country, at about 5.30am, apparently heading for Kyiv.

It said the missile “flew critically low” over the site and that Russian forces “still do not understand that even the smallest fragment of a missile that can hit a working power unit can cause a nuclear catastrophe and radiation leak”.

The last time Kyiv was hit was on 28 April, when a Russian missile killed a producer for the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Since then Moscow has ignored the capital as it tries to push Ukraine out of Donbas.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said that Ukrainian forces had counterattacked in Sievierodonetsk in eastern Ukraine, “likely blunting the operational momentum Russian forces previously gained” – but offered no assessment whether the effort was pushing the invaders back.

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On Saturday, Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk province, said his country’s forces had regained about 20% of the Donbas city, which had been under days of sustained attack by concentrated Russian shelling and airstrikes.

Haidai repeated that claim on Sunday, adding that eight Russians had been taken prisoner and that the occupiers had “lost a huge number of personnel”. A humanitarian headquarters in neighbouring Lysychansk had been struck with 30 shells overnight, the governor said.

Ukrainian forces were “successfully slowing down Russian operations” in Donbas and were making “effective local counterattacks in Sievierodonetsk”, said the Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank, overnight.

The research group, which closely monitors the fighting, said that Russia “may still be able to capture Sievierodonetsk and Lysychansk” and that it appeared that “Ukrainian defences remain strong in this pivotal theatre”.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said Russia was relying on “poorly equipped and trained” separatist forces from Luhansk to conduct the clearance of the city, a tactic it said had been previously employed by Moscow’s forces in Syria. “This approach likely indicates a desire to limit casualties suffered by regular Russian forces,” it added.

One Ukrainian presidential adviser urged European nations to respond with “more sanctions, more weapons” to the missile attacks – and appeared to criticise the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who had said in an interview on Friday that Russia must not be humiliated in Ukraine so that a diplomatic solution could eventually be found.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the President’s Office, tweeted: “While someone asks not to humiliate Russia, the Kremlin resorts to new insidious attacks. Today’s missile strikes at Kyiv have only one goal – kill as many Ukrainians as possible.”



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World

Zelensky warns of “new stage of terror,” citing abduction of mayor

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned of “a new stage of terror” in a video posted to Telegram on Friday night, referencing the abduction of the mayor of Melitopol by Russian forces.

Driving the news: The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the kidnapping of Mayor Ivan Fedorov a war crime, according to a statement posted to Facebook on Friday.

  • “It is a democratic world here therefore the capture of the mayor of Melitopol is a crime not only against a particular person. Not only against a particular community. And not only against Ukraine. This is a crime against democracy,” Zelensky said in his own video message.
  • “Obviously, this is a sign of the weakness of the invaders,” the Ukrainian president added. “They did not find collaborators who would hand over the city and the power to the invaders. Therefore, they have switched to a new stage of terror when they are trying to physically eliminate representatives of the legitimate local Ukrainian authorities.”

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World

Israeli airstrikes said to hit Hezbollah targets near Damascus

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Israeli jets carried out airstrikes against targets near the Syrian capital of Damascus early Monday morning, Syrian state TV reported.

The pro-opposition group, the Syrian Observatory For Human Rights, said the targets of the attack were Hezbollah positions, outposts and weapon depots, northeast of Damascus.

The alleged strikes were the first since Russia announced last week it was carrying out joint military jet patrols with the Syrian air force of the airspace along Syria’s borders, including in the Golan Heights area.

Syrian state media SANA said the strikes caused “material damage,” but did not elaborate further. Israeli airstrikes generally target arms shipments from Iran to its proxies in Syria and Lebanon, notably the Hezbollah terrorist militia.

There were no official reports of casualties, but the UK-based Syrian Observatory said it suspected that there were some, without offering a precise figure or their nationalities.

According to SANA, the Israeli missiles were fired at approximately 3 a.m. from aircraft flying near Beirut.

The SANA report said the Syrian military’s air defenses were activated in response to the strike. The state broadcaster alleged that several of the incoming missiles were intercepted, but analysts generally dismiss such claims — heard after nearly every Israeli airstrike — as false, empty boasts.

Israel has staged hundreds of strikes on targets inside government-controlled Syria over the years but rarely acknowledges or discusses specific operations. Many of the strikes in the past targeted the main airport in the capital Damascus, through which Iran is believed to transfer advanced arms to its proxies.

Israel has acknowledged that it targets the bases of Iranian forces and Iran-allied terror groups, particularly along the Golan border, such as Lebanon’s Hezbollah, which has fighters deployed in southern Syria. It says it also attacks arms shipments believed to be bound for those groups.

Hezbollah is fighting on the side of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s forces in the decade-long civil war.

In December, Israel reportedly carried out two high-profile strikes on the Syrian port of Latakia.

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, flames rise from containers at the scene of missiles attack, at the seaport of the coastal city of Latakia, Syria, early December 28, 2021. (SANA via AP)

Last week Russia carried out a joint air patrol with the Syrian air force along the border with Israel, prompting speculation that Israel would be more hesitant to strike Syria.

Following the patrol, Ynet reported that Israeli military officials were holding talks with Russian army officers to calm tensions.

According to the report, Israeli officials were struggling to understand why Russia, which announced that such joint patrols were expected to be a regular occurrence moving forward, had apparently changed its policy toward Israel.

The report claimed, without citing a source, that Israel may limit its air campaign in Syria as a result of Russia’s move, even after discussions end.

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Yemen: Saudi-led coalition denies targeting detention center after airstrikes kill 70

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The Iran-back Houthi rebels, who control much of Yemen, blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the strike in the northern city of Sa’ada. On Saturday, a spokesman for the coalition, Brigadier Gen. Turki Al-Maliki, called those claims “baseless and unfounded,” according to Saudi state news agency SPA.

At least 70 people were killed and 130 injured in the attack, according to Doctors Without Borders (MSF).

Another airstrike early Friday hit a telecommunications building in the strategic port city of Hodeidah, causing a nationwide internet blackout, according to NetBlocks, an organization that tracks network disruptions. At least three children were killed in that attack, Save the Children said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said the internet blackout, which was still ongoing as of Friday evening, would affect aid delivery.

SPA reported Friday that the coalition said it also attacked “military targets” in the capital, Sanaa, on Friday, claiming to have conducted the operation “in response to the threat of hostile attacks.”

The coalition launched an offensive in 2015 to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government after it was ousted by the Houthis. The coalition has intensified its attacks in the wake of a deadly Houthi missile and drone strike in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi earlier this week.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday it was “deeply concerned about the intensification of hostilities” and “deplores the human toll this escalation has caused.” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also called for deescalation.

“The escalation in fighting only exacerbates a dire humanitarian crisis and the suffering of the Yemeni people,” Blinken said in a statement.

The Houthi-run media outlet Al Masirah showed graphic video of people under rubble in the aftermath of Friday’s detention center strike. The Red Cross said it had sent emergency medical supplies to two hospitals that had received a “very high” number of casualties.

“From what I hear from my colleague in Sa’ada there are many bodies still at the scene of the airstrike, many missing people,” said Ahmad Mahat, head of the MSF mission in Yemen. “It is impossible to know how many people have been killed. It seems to have been a horrific act of violence.”

An MSF-supported hospital in Sa’ada has been overwhelmed by an influx of wounded people and cannot receive more, Mahat said. Two other hospitals in the city have also received large numbers of casualties, according to MSF.

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World

Yemen: Airstrikes kill 70 people and knock out internet

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Another airstrike early Friday hit a telecommunications building in the strategic port city of Hodeidah, causing a nationwide internet blackout, according to NetBlocks, an organization that tracks network disruptions. At least three children were killed in that attack, Save the Children said.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said the internet blackout, which was still ongoing as of Friday evening, would affect aid delivery.

The Iran-back Houthi rebels, who control much of Yemen, blamed the Saudi-led coalition for the strikes. CNN has reached out to the coalition for comment.

The Houthi-run media outlet Al Masirah showed graphic video of people under rubble in the aftermath of Friday’s detention center strike in the northern Yemeni city of Sa’ada. The Red Cross said it had sent emergency medical supplies to two hospitals that had received a “very high” number of casualties.

“From what I hear from my colleague in Sa’ada there are many bodies still at the scene of the airstrike, many missing people,” said Ahmad Mahat, head of the MSF mission in Yemen. “It is impossible to know how many people have been killed. It seems to have been a horrific act of violence.”

An MSF-supported hospital in Sa’ada has been overwhelmed by an influx of wounded people and cannot receive more, Mahat said. Two other hospitals in the city have also received large numbers of casualties, according to MSF.

International aid groups have been struggling to gather details about the strike because of the internet blackout, multiple aid workers told CNN.

The Saudi-led coalition did not comment on the the strikes on the telecommunications building or the detention center, but said Friday that it had hit the port of Hodeidah, taking down “one of the [Houthis’] dens of maritime piracy and organized crime.”

The coalition also said it attacked “military targets” in the capital Sanaa on Friday, claiming to have conducted the operation “in response to the threat of hostile attacks,” Saudi state-owned SPA said.

“The ICRC is deeply concerned about the intensification of hostilities over recent days, including attacks against cities across Yemen, in Saudi Arabia and in the United Arab Emirates, and deplores the human toll this escalation has caused,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said Friday.

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