Yemen says Houthi targets struck

CALM DISTURBED: The country has again been plunged into a civil war, with Saudi Arabia on Thursday bombing Sana’a for the first time since the renewed fighting

Yemen’s government forces yesterday said they had struck Houthi targets around the country, deepening the conflict ravaging one of the world’s poorest nations and the wider region.

The armed forces launched strikes against the Houthis in Sana’a, the northwestern governorate of Saada — one of the group’s strongholds — and Taiz in the southwest, military spokesman Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili said.

Yemen was plunged back into civil war in July after years of calm, pitting the Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of northwest Yemen including Sana’a, against Yemen’s internationally recognized Saudi-backed government.

A Houthi soldier stands guard near a sports hall targeted by a previous Saudi-led airstrike, in Sana’a on Saturday.

Photo: EPA

The government, based in the city of Aden, controls much of the country’s south and east — a region that is larger, but much less populated.

The strikes came hours after the Houthis claimed an attack on an oil facility near the Saudi capital and accused the Gulf kingdom of striking Sana’a dozens of times. The foes have traded strikes since the Houthis seized all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Mandab Strait in a lightning offensive last month.

Houthi-affiliated channel Al-Masirah TV reported that “Saudi enemy aircraft” hit Sana’a with 26 strikes, after earlier reporting “Saudi aggression” against the Yemeni capital, without providing details on the targets or casualties.

In neighboring Saudi Arabia, flames and smoke were seen rising on yesterday afternoon from an Aramco facility south of Riyadh.

While the Saudi authorities are yet to comment, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had targeted an oil facility in Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones, adding that they sparked fires at the targeted sites.

The Houthis’ Al-Masirah channel also reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in Saada.

The Houthis said Saudi Arabia bombed the Yemeni capital on Thursday night for the first time since renewed fighting broke out between the two sides in July.