Residents said the pre-dawn strike was the first direct hit on old Sanaa since the launch of the bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in late March.
The missile hit the Qassimi neighbourhood, which boasts thousands of houses built before the 11th century, an AFP journalist reported.
It did not explode but it still destroyed three three-storey houses and killed five residents, including a woman and a child, medics and witnesses said.
The target of the raid was not immediately clear amid conflicting statements from residents about whether rebels had occupied one of the houses hit.
The old city has already suffered some damage from air strikes on nearby targets, including the defence ministry, prompting a protest from UNESCO in May.
Sanaa's old city, situated in a mountain valley, has been inhabited for more than 2,500 years and was a major centre for the propagation of Islam, boasting over 100 mosques, 14 public baths and more than 6,000 houses built before the 11th century.
It was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List in 1986.
The multi-storey houses rising above stone ground floors were built of rammed earth and burnt brick. Each building is decorated with geometric patterns of fired bricks and white gypsum, inspired by traditional Islamic art.
AFP
TV100F.com
12/6/15
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Raids au Yémen : l'Unesco s'alarme des destructions dans le Vieux Sanaa...
ReplyDeleteLa vieille ville de Sanaa, classée par l'Unesco, a été touchée vendredi par un raid faisant cinq morts et détruisant trois maisons. La coalition arabe, qui mène des raids contre des rebelles chiites, a démenti être à l'origine des destructions.
L'Unesco ne cache pas ses inquiétudes au sujet du Yémen. L’organisation onusienne a vivement condamné vendredi 12 juin la mort de cinq personnes et la destruction de plusieurs édifices de la vieille ville de Sanaa, inscrite au Patrimoine mondial de l'humanité, dans un raid aérien.
La coalition arabe conduite par l'Arabie saoudite, qui mène des raids contre des rebelles chiites au Yémen, a démenti vendredi que ses avions aient frappé un quartier historique de la capitale. "Il est certain que nous n'avons pas mené d'opérations dans la ville", a déclaré à l'AFP le général Ahmed al-Assiri, le porte-parole de la coalition.
Du côté de l'Unesco, les craintes sont réelles. "Cette destruction ne va qu'exacerber la situation humanitaire et je réitère mon appel à toutes les parties à respecter et protéger l'héritage culturel du Yémen", "symbole d'une histoire millénaire" qui "appartient à toute l'humanité", a déclaré, dans un communiqué, Irina Bokova, la directrice générale de l'Unesco basée à Paris. Et d’ajouter être "profondément affligée par les pertes de vies humaines et les dommages infligés à l'un des plus anciens joyaux de l'urbanisme islamique au monde"......france24.com
12/6/15
Yemen peace talks in Geneva postponed to Monday: UN statement...
ReplyDeletePeace talks between Yemen's warring parties have been postponed to Monday from Sunday as one delegation is arriving late in Geneva, a United Nations statement said.
Earlier, the world body announced that the U.N. special envoy would hold separate "proximity" talks with Yemen's two main warring parties in Geneva on Sunday, in the hope of bringing them to the same table eventually.
"Due to unforeseen circumstances, one of the Yemeni delegations will now arrive in Geneva on Sunday evening, 14 June. Therefore, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and his Special Envoy, Ismail Ould Chiekh Ahmed, will begin consultations with the Yemeni delegations on Monday morning," said a U.N statement issued in Geneva where the three-day talks are to be held.
REUTERS