Baby loses his eye in Houthi shelling in Yemen

The attack happened shortly before the UN announced a two-week ceasefire in Yemen

Armed Houthi followers ride on the back of a truck outside a hospital in Sanaa, Yemen. Reuters

An eight-month-old baby lost an eye and his mother was wounded in Yemen when the Iran-backed Houthi rebels shelled their neighbourhood in southern Hodeidah on Wednesday night, the boy's uncle said.

And a woman, 27, was killed when a mortar hit her family house in the same district of Hodeidah province.

The baby, Mohammed Faisal, was taken to hospital but his left eye could not be saved.

“The Houthi rebels launched indiscriminate mortar shelling over the city last night," Mohammed's uncle, Ali Faisal, told The National on Thursday.

“The shelling intensified at 11pm when a missile penetrated my brother’s residence and blasted in the bedroom where the little baby was sleeping with his mother.

“The mother wasn’t seriously injured. She was exposed to some shrapnel in her back but the little baby was horribly wounded.

"Both of his eyes were hurt. The left eye was completely damaged, while the right eye was bleeding.

"But the doctor said the right eye is expected to be OK with treatment.

“It was a horrible night. The explosion of the rocket was tremendous. I rushed to my brother’s house as soon as I heard it.

"The scene was really painful. The little baby was bleeding while the mother was screaming and the other siblings were terrified.”

The baby was taken to the field hospital in Al Khokha district and later on Thursday morning was transferred to Aden.

Attack before ceasefire

Meanwhile, Esmhan Farhan, 27, died when a mortar fell near the house where she lived with her family in the Hays district.

“The Houthis have been repeatedly shelling our city because the city wasn’t completely liberated from them,” Faisal Durami, a Hays resident, told The National.

The Houthi attacks took place about an hour before the UN announced a two-week ceasefire in Yemen.

The Arab Coalition, led by Saudia Arabia, announced it was suspending military operations in Yemen. The Houthis have yet to say if they will follow.