ADEN, Yemen, Dec. 3 (Xinhua) -- A total of nine workers were killed when Houthi rebels shelled an industrial compound in the country's Red Sea port city of Hodeidah on Thursday evening, a government official told Xinhua.
"A number of artillery and mortar shells fired indiscriminately by the Houthi rebels landed on an industrial compound in Hodeidah's southern parts," the local government source said on condition of anonymity.
He said that the shells targeted Thabit Brothers industrial compound owned by local Yemeni investors.
Medical sources confirmed to Xinhua that the number of victims is likely to increase due the intense Houthi shelling against the industrial facility.
More than 21 injured workers were transferred to nearby medical centers controlled by the government forces on Hodeidah's outskirts, according to the local sources.
Witnesses said that the Houthi bombardment caused massive fire and damage to the compound's commercial warehouses.
During the past months, similar Houthi shelling attacks struck the same industrial facility located in a government-controlled area in Hodeidah.
The port city of Hodeidah, a vital lifeline for millions facing starvation, has seen a shaky cease-fire between the government and the Houthis since they reached a UN-sponsored truce in Stockholm in December 2018.
Last week, Head of the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeidah's Agreement and Chair of the Redeployment Coordination Committee Abhijit Guha called for restraint after a recent upsurge in serious cease-fire violations in the city.
"Now is the time to hold fire and stop a cycle of military escalations that will worsen the dire humanitarian situation on the ground," he said in a statement.
Hodeidah is under the control of the Iran-backed Houthis, while the government forces have advanced to the southern and eastern districts.
Both sides have been blaming each other for truce breaches and sporadic military escalation in the strategic city.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the internationally-recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of the capital Sanaa. Enditem
