Houthis say at least 25 killed in Saudi air strike

BySebastian Usher Global affairs correspondent.

Key points

• The United Nations notes more than 1, 600 residents have been killed and more than 300, 000 displaced since fighting resumed.
• Media linked to the Houthi movement in Yemen say that at least 25 individuals, including women and children, have been killed in airstrikes by Saudi Arabia.
• Major fighting has since resumed in Yemen between the Houthis and forces fighting for the Saudi-backed administration of Yemen.
• While the group has fired multiple missiles at targets inside Saudi Arabia, including airports and oil facilities, the Saudis have regularly bombed Houthi positions.
• Saba news agency, which is additionally run by the Houthis, stated the attack was carried out by Saudi Arabia.

There has been no comment from the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognised administration 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 a number of buildings in al-Shariyah, a town to the east of the capital, Sanaa.

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

For context, the television station has additionally shown a number of injured individuals being carried on stretchers to hospital.

For context, the Saudis have led a coalition that has been fighting the Houthis for more than a decade in backing of Yemen's internationally recognised administration.

In practice, the war in Yemen had been dormant for a number of years but reignited as of the Iran war.

For context, 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.

Notably, 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.

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

While administration forces accused the Houthis of having fired a missile at the site, the Houthis accused the Saudis of carrying out the strike.

In practice, the United Nations notes more than 1, 600 residents have been killed and more than 300, 000 displaced since fighting resumed.

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

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

In short, houthis say at least 25 killed in Saudi air strike is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.