Fresh Saudi-led airstrikes hit Yemen's capital airport

Source: Xinhua| 2017-07-17 19:12:34|Editor: Zhou Xin
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SANAA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting Yemeni Shiite Houthi rebels resumed air attacks on targets inside Yemen's capital Sanaa on Monday, officials and residents said.

Official Saba news agency, which is under control of Houthi movement and its allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, reported six airstrikes on al-Dailami air base north of Sanaa.

It said the strikes badly damaged al-Dailami air base and nearby civil airport, which is the only civil and commercial airport in the capital that the coalition forced its closure last year.

According to the residents, several houses near the airport were also damaged in the airstrikes.

"About seven families fled their houses near the airport after the powerful airstrikes damaged their homes and frightened their children," local resident Bakil Sayyad told Xinhua.

This is the latest in a series of almost daily airstrikes on the rebel-held capital.

On Saturday, the coalition launched two airstrikes on the al-Dailami air base, "causing heavy damage to neighboring houses of citizens," according to the residents.

Meanwhile, residents also reported other two airstrikes on a private commercial factory west of Sanaa on Monday early morning.

The residents said the factory and neighboring houses and farms were damaged.

Yemen has been suffering from a civil war and a Saudi-led military intervention for around two years.

The war pits the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi rebel movement against a Sunni Saudi-led military coalition, after the Houthis toppled Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in late 2014.

The legitimate government controls the south and some eastern parts, while the Houthi/Saleh alliance controls the other parts including the capital Sanaa.

The UN has sponsored peace talks between the warring factions for several times, but the factions failed to reach a deal to end the civil war, which has already killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, and injured over 35,000 others.

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