Houthis say at least 25 killed in Saudi air strike

Published2 hours ago

Media linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen say that at least 25 people, including women and children, have been killed in airstrikes by Saudi Arabia.

There has been no comment from the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised government in Yemen.

Live video footage on Al Masirah - a television station run by the Houthis - has shown rescuers pulling bodies out of the rubble of several buildings in al-Shariyah, a town to the east of the capital, Sanaa.

The bodies of young children can be seen among those dug out from the ruins.

The television station has also shown a number of injured people being carried on stretchers to hospital.

Saba news agency, which is also run by the Houthis, said the attack was carried out by Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis have led a coalition that has been fighting the Houthis for more than a decade in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government.

The war in Yemen had been dormant for several years but reignited as a result of the Iran war.

A truce began to fall apart when Saudi Arabia struck the airport in Sanaa - which is controlled by the Houthis - to prevent an Iranian plan landing there.

The Tehran-backed Houthis subsequently targeted Abha airport in Saudi Arabia, then began hitting Saudi ships that have been using the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen as an alternative oil export route to the Strait of Hormuz.

Major fighting has since resumed in Yemen between the Houthis and forces fighting for the Saudi-backed government of Yemen.

On Friday, an attack on a market in Taiz province, which has been the focus of much of the recent fighting, is reported to have killed 30 people.

The Houthis accused the Saudis of carrying out the strike, while government forces accused the Houthis of having fired a missile at the site.

The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed.

The Saudis have regularly bombed Houthi positions, while the group has fired multiple missiles at targets inside Saudi Arabia, including airports and oil facilities.

Hours before the strike that hit al-Shariyah, the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a missile heading towards Riyadh.

A Houthi leader, Mahdi al-Mashat, has vowed that the group will take revenge for the latest attacks in Yemen.

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