More than a dozen dead in coalition strikes on Sanaa in Yemen

ADEN, Yemen, Jan 18 (Reuters) – An airstrike killed around 14 people at a building in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, residents said on Tuesday, in strikes across the city launched by the Saudi-led coalition Saudi against the Houthi group.

The alliance’s strikes on Houthi-held Sanaa followed an attack claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday on coalition partner the United Arab Emirates in Abu Dhabi, in which three people were killed.

The coalition also said it intercepted eight drones launched towards Saudi Arabia on Monday. Read more

Early on Tuesday, the coalition said it had begun airstrikes against strongholds and camps in Sanaa belonging to the Houthi group, Saudi state media reported.

The strikes appeared to be the deadliest since 2019 in Sanaa.

The strike that killed around 14 people, according to initial estimates, took place at the home of a former military official.

He killed him, his wife, his 25-year-old son, other family members and unidentified people, a medical source and residents told Reuters.

Coalition strikes around the city killed a total of around 20 people, the deputy foreign minister of the Houthi administration, which controls much of northern Yemen, said on Twitter.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said the strikes damaged homes, killed at least a dozen people and injured a dozen.

The UAE has armed and trained Yemeni forces that recently joined the fighting against the Houthis in the energy-producing regions of Shabwa and Marib in Yemen. Read more

The attack claimed by the Houthis on Monday against two sites in the United Arab Emirates triggered explosions in tanker trucks, killed three people and started a fire near Abu Dhabi airport.

In response, the UAE said it reserves the right to respond to “terrorist attacks and criminal escalation”.

Reporting by Alaa Swilam and Mohammed Ghobari; Written by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel

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