RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) — Saudi-led coalition warplanes waged a series of airstrikes on military targets in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, just few hours after Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile towards the Saudi capital Riyadh.
The warplanes hit several military targets inside Sanaa, including the parade viewing stand in al-Sabeen Square, the nearby presidential palace, the national security headquarters, interior ministry and air defense bases in the capital’s mountains of Attan and Noqom, according to residents and the Houthi-run Saba News Agency.
Saba reported over 15 airstrikes on targets inside Sanaa and an approximate number of airstrikes on military targets on the outskirts of the city and the surrounding area.
The coalition warplanes kept flying over Sanaa for long hours following the Houthi rebels’ ballistic missile attack that fell north of the King Khalid International Airport.
On Saturday, Shiite Houthi rebels backed by rocketry forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh fired the long-range ballistic missile towards Riyadh at around 20:20 local time (1700 GMT), the second ballistic missile attack by Houthis from Yemen towards the Saudi capital since the country intervened in the Yemeni war more than two years ago.
Meanwhile, Saudi-led coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki on Sunday said at a press conference in Riyadh that Iran has kept providing weapons to the Houthi militia, and confirmed that the ballistic missile was fired on Saturday was developed by Iran and smuggled into Yemen.
He also blamed Iran for endangering Saudi Arabia’s national security by providing weapons for the Houthi militia in order to aggravate tensions in the Gulf region.
“The coalition has ample evidence to prove that Iran is providing weapons to the Houthi armed group. The support aims to cause a disturbance, prolong Yemen’s civil war and the suffering of the Yemeni people,” said Maliki.
The crisis erupted in Yemen in 2015, a few months after Houthi rebels stormed and seized control of Sanaa and most of the northern provinces, and forced the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile.
The coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, intervened in March 2015 to defeat the rebels and reinstate Hadi to power.
From March 2015 to March 2017, the fighting between the two sides has killed over 10,000 Yemenis, half of whom are civilians, injured about 40,000 and displaced over two million, according to humanitarian agencies.