Mass funerals in Yemen for children killed in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes

Hundreds of mourners in northernYemenburied 17 civilians,including nine children,killed in air strikes last week as Western pressure increased onthe warring parties to end the devastating four-year war.

A Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognizedgovernment has been providing air support to tribes in Hajjahprovince battling the Iran-backed Houthi group. Last week, airstrikes on Kushar district killed 10 women and 12 children andwounded 30 people, including 14 under the age of 18.

The coalition blamed the deaths on shelling by Houthifighters that struck the houses of tribesmen.

Eleven victims were from the same family, residents said.

Some Western nations supplying arms

A procession weaved through Sanaa's dusty streets as Houthiactivists with megaphones denounced the "Saudi aggression."

"Death to America, death to Israel!" the crowd chanted.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the conflictthat pits the Houthis against the Saudi-backed government ofAbd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Sunni Muslim alliance intervened inthe war in March 2015 in support of Hadi after his governmentwas driven out of Sanaa by Houthi forces in late 2014.

Coalition leaders Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emiratesare under pressure from Western nations, some of which supply arms and intelligence to the alliance, to end a war that haspushed the poorest Arab state to the brink of famine.

UNICEF said in a statement that since the beginning of Marchmore than 37,000 people had been displaced within Hajjahprovince around half of them children.

"The situation is difficult with the air strikes and thetank fire. Some people lost their children, houses were
destroyed. We rescued whoever we could and we left the dead,"Mohammed Sagheer, one of the displaced, told Reuters.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) said fighting over thepast six months has forced over 203,000 people to flee to safety in Hajjah, almost doubling the number of displaced people in thenorthern governorate to 420,000.

U.S. Senate approves resolution to end support

"Whilst the eyes of the world are on Hodeidah, air strikesand shells continue to rain down on civilians in other parts ofYemen, killing with impunity," Nigel Tricks, NRC's East Africaand Yemen regional director, said in a statement this week.

The truce has largely held but the troop withdrawal hasstalled due to deep mistrust among the parties, risking UNefforts to hold another round of talks to agree on a framework forpolitical negotiations to end the war.

The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a resolution seekingto end U.S. support for the coalition, in a strong message toRiyadh over the Yemen war and the murder of a Saudi journalistat the kingdom's Istanbul consulate last year.

The conflict is widely seen in the region as a proxy warbetween Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis deny they are puppetsof Tehran and say their revolution is against corruption.