sanaa | At least 11 people have died in Sanaa in raids by the Saudi-led military coalition, the day after a deadly attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels in the Emirates, a medical source said on Tuesday.
“The air strikes killed 11,” this source told AFP in Sanaa, while the coalition, of which the Emirates is a member, has increased since Monday evening the retaliatory raids on the capital of Yemen, controlled by the rebels.
A witness in Sanaa told AFP that he also saw 11 dead as he searched for survivors among his relatives and a bulldozer cleared the scene.
“There are 11 martyrs. And we are still looking for the wounded and martyrs in the rubble,” the witness, Akram al-Ahdal, told AFP.
The coalition had announced on Monday evening the launch of raids on Sanaa in “response” to the first confirmed deadly attack by Houthi rebels on Emirati soil. The Emirates had threatened to “retaliate” to this “infamous attack”.
Yemeni insurgents, backed by Iran, targeted civilian facilities in the United Arab Emirates on Monday using drones.
The explosion of tanker trucks carrying fuel killed three people and injured six on Monday in Abu Dhabi, capital of the Emirates,
The coalition has been working in Yemen since 2015 to support government forces against rebels, who took control of Sanaa in 2014 and then large swaths of the impoverished, war-torn country.
In seven years, the conflict has killed 377,000 people according to the UN, the vast majority due to the indirect consequences of the fighting, such as hunger, disease and the scarcity of drinking water.