A senior rebel commander dies in the Yemen War

The shadow of conflict has once again fallen on Yemen, after the Peace Agreement signed by the Government and Yemeni separatists and the ceasefire agreed on the coronavirus pandemic have become a dead letter. This series of events is compounded by the killing of a senior Yemeni rebel commander during a battle against government forces in the central areas of the country, as reported in the last few hours by several local media. 

Commander Mohamed Abdel Karim al-Hamran had close ties to the main Hutu leader, Abdul Malek al-Houthi. Al-Hamran is also the successor to the former commander of the Huthi Special Forces, Major General Hassan Al-Kharadi, known as "Abu Shahid", who died more than a year ago in Al-Hudaydah province, according to information received by the Arab News newspaper. 

This war between the Saudi Arabian-led coalition and the Yemeni Government against the Huthian rebel movement has forced more than four million people to leave their homes and more than 24 million people to urgently need humanitarian aid to survive. In this context, both warring parties have had to face another, even greater, challenge: a health crisis. Faced with this situation, the Riyadh-led coalition announced a unilateral ceasefire that has been repeatedly violated. 

However, the prolonged political and social crisis in which this nation is immersed has once again highlighted the differences between the north and south of Yemen. In this scenario, the Southern Transitional Council, the political organization of the separatists in the south of Yemen, declared at the end of April its own autonomy, an action that was totally contrary to the provisions of the Peace Agreement signed with the Government in November 2019. Since then, attacks have not ceased to occur in the country, an example of which is the assassination of one of the most renowned commanders of the Huthi rebel movement. The killed commander was part of an elite brigade trained by the Lebanese group Hezbollah, according to the Associated Press.

Al-Hamran has been killed during fighting between warring parties in the central provinces of Marib and Bayd, two Yemeni security officials told the AP. In the latest of these battles in which Al-Hamran was killed, several planes from the Saudi-led coalition bombed Huthi targets in several provinces and set fire to five military convoys, according to media reports in the region. As a result of this attack, dozens of people have been killed and as many injured, on both sides. After the attack, rebel military spokesman Yehia Sarea accused his opponents of launching 11 ground attacks across the front lines in Marib and Bayda and of unleashing 110 air strikes, including on the rebel-controlled capital of Sanaa, AP reported. 

Fighting and clashes have again become a constant in Yemen after the recent declaration of self-government by separatists in the south of the country. Several attacks have taken place in the country over the past week. One of them took place in the southern province of Abyan, where an explosion hit a military checkpoint, killing three soldiers and injuring four others. 

In addition to the humanitarian crisis that Yemen is suffering because of this conflict, diseases such as cholera, meningitis, malaria and now the coronavirus or dengue fever are spreading. So far, the Houthies have reported only one death caused by COVID-19 in their territories, although the poor health infrastructure could lead to the rapid spread of this pathogen and bring the country to the brink.  And in the midst of this crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) has reduced the extra pay of the thousands of health workers working in the country, according to The New Humanitarian. Meanwhile, while the Houthies have only recognized one case of the coronavirus, the internationally recognized government has confirmed several cases of COVID-19, increasing the number to 25.