Warplanes from the United Arab Emirates struck Houthi targets across Yemen, state news agency WAM said on Saturday, a day after at least 60 soldiers from a Saudi-led coalition, mostly Emiratis, were killed in an attack in central Yemen.
Medical sources at hospitals in the capital Sanaa, which has been under effective control of the Iranian-allied Houthi militia for almost a year, said about 24 civilians were killed in the city as a result of the attacks.
WAM said the UAE air force struck a mine-making plant in the Houthi-dominated Saada province in northern Yemen, as well as military camps and weapon stores in the central Ibb province, causing “heavy damage”.
Apart from 45 Emiratis and five Bahrainis, Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya TV reported on Saturday that 10 Saudi soldiers were also killed in the attack in Marib province on Friday, quoting Brigadier-General Ahmed al-Asiri, the coalition spokesman.
Asiri told Al Arabiya TV that four Yemeni soldiers were also killed in the attack on the coalition base in Marib.
Friday’s death toll was the highest for the coalition since it began its assault on the Houthis in March, and is one of the worst losses of life in the history of the UAE military.
The UAE has played a key role in a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting the Houthis after they pushed Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile and took over much of the country.
UAE forces assisted fighters loyal to Hadi in driving out Houthis and their allies from the southern port city of Aden, in a key victory for the coalition.
