The Iran-backed Houthi militias shelled a sports center in Yemen’s besieged southwestern city of Taiz on Saturday, killing a former football player and his son and injuring others.
“The Houthi arterially bombardment hit Al-Ahly Club stadium in Taiz, killing Captain Nasser al-Rimi, the player of Al-Talia’a club and his younger son, and injured others who were on the stadium,” security sources and medics reported.
The same sources explained that Al-Rimi and his son “were practicing sports during the morning at the Al-Ahly Club stadium, before a Houthi shell fell on them.”
The sources indicated that the militias targeted the stadium days after they targeted Al-Shuhada Stadium, as part of the violations they are committing against sports facilities and athletes.
Human rights activists and the Yemeni government condemned the attack against Al-Ahly Stadium. The international community was urged to swiftly blacklist the Houthis as a terrorist group.
The Youth and Sports Ministry in the legitimate government denounced the attack as well. Youth and Sports Minister Nayef al-Bakri called on the international community to “shoulder its responsibility towards protecting civilians, including athletes, from Houthi attacks.”
Al-Bakri also conveyed his condolences to Al-Rimi’s family.
Yemeni Information Minister Muammar al-Eryani, in a series of tweets, condemned the attack.
“This heinous terrorist crime is an extension of the Iranian-backed Houthi militia’s approach to bombing and killing civilians in cold blood and in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law,” said al-Eryani.
Meanwhile, Houthis continued to commit violations against the truce in the Hodeidah governorate. The militias have been escalating attacks and bombing villages and neighborhoods near frontlines, pro-government military media reported.
Military sources cited violent bombardment of southern and eastern neighborhoods in the Hays district. Staged with a variety of weapons, the attacks triggered a state of terror, fear and panic among residents.
Locals added that Houthi assaults have prompted a fresh wave of displacement with Yemenis fleeing the Mashhad Al-Shaabi neighborhood, located in Al-Houwk district, south of Hodeidah city.
