A night of airstrikes in Yemen’s Sanaa province has turned into one of the bloodiest episodes since the country’s conflict flared again, with Houthi authorities reporting dozens killed in an attack that they say hit a village east of the capital.
According to the United Nations, the renewed fighting that reignited in July between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned group has already left more than 1,600 people dead and forced more than 300,000 from their homes.
The toll from strikes by the Saudi-led coalition on Al-Shariya village has climbed to 33 dead, with 39 others wounded, Houthi health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi said in a post on X.
Rescue efforts were still underway, the Houthis’ Saba news agency reported yesterday, saying teams were continuing to pull victims from the rubble and alleging that “aircraft targeted paramedics with two strikes”.
Mr Alasbahi said near-final figures showed the dead included 12 men, 8 women and 13 children, while those injured comprised 16 men, 10 women and 13 children.
Footage aired by the Iran-backed group’s Al-Masirah TV, which it said was shot in Al-Shariya, showed smoke billowing from a hit site, heaps of shattered debris, and wounded people receiving treatment in hospital.
An ambulance arrives at a hospital carrying a person wounded in the strikes in the Sanaa province
Saudi Arabia, which says it is fighting in Yemen to support the internationally recognised government, has not commented on the reported casualties.
In a statement yesterday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi missile fired towards Riyadh province.
The Houthis, for their part, said they carried out a series of missile and drone strikes against Saudi troops and infrastructure both inside the Gulf kingdom and in Yemen.
Six operations were aimed at Aramco oil facilities, Riyadh airport and Saudi military positions on both sides of the border, according to an X post by Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree.
The latest escalation follows another deadly incident on Friday, when an attack on a market in Taiz province killed 30 people.
The Houthis blamed Saudi airstrikes for the market deaths, while Yemen’s government forces accused the Iran-backed group of launching a ballistic missile at the site.
The renewed hostilities have unraveled a UN-brokered truce reached in 2022 that had largely halted cross-border and air attacks between the Saudi-led coalition and the group that controls Sanaa.
Since the truce collapsed, the Houthis have stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports and oil sites, while Riyadh has resumed airstrikes in Yemen backing its Yemeni allies.
