Saudi-led air strikes leave three dead in Sanaa: rebels

Air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition have killed at least three people in Yemen’s rebel-held capital Sanaa, the Houthi-affiliated Health Ministry said yesterday.The ministry said in a statement the coalition carried out more than 24 air strikes on Sana’a late Saturday in an onslaught that also injured several civilians and destroyed government buildings.The coalition spokesman, Turki al-Malki, meanwhile, said the air strikes targeted Houthi military sites, including a drone facility in Sana’a.The coalition “has undertaken all preventative action and necessary measures to protect civilians and avoid collateral damage among them,” al-Malki was quoted as saying by the official Saudi news agency SPA.The air strikes are the first on Sana’a since Yemen’s Saudi-backed government and the Houthi rebels reached a truce agreement on Yemen’s key port city of Hodeidah at UN-brokered peace talks in Sweden.Yemen has been embroiled in a power struggle between the government and the Houthi rebels since late 2014.The rebels seized the capital, Sana’a, and other parts of Yemen in September 2014 before starting to advance towards Aden, the temporary seat of government, which prompted Saudi Arabia to form a coalition in March 2015 to halt the Houthi advances.Over the past four years, the conflict has led to displacement, food insecurity, and outbreaks of cholera and diphtheria across the country as well as damage to the healthcare and education infrastructure.