Abu Dhabi attack: Saudi-led coalition strikes on Yemen kill 11

Eleven people were killed in coalition air strikes on Yemen's rebel-held capital Sanaa, a witness and medical sources told AFP Tuesday, after the insurgents launched a rare and deadly attack on the United Arab Emirates.

The alliance strikes on Houthi-held Sanaa followed an attack claimed by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Monday on coalition partner the United Arab Emirates, in Abu Dhabi, in which three people were killed.

The coalition also said it intercepted eight drones launched toward Saudi Arabia on Monday. 

Early on Tuesday, the coalition said it had begun air strikes against strongholds and camps in Sanaa belonging to the Houthi group, Saudi state media said.

The strikes appeared to be the deadliest since 2019 on Sanaa.

The strike that killed about 14 people, according to initial estimates, was on the home of a former military official.

It killed him, his wife, his 25-year-old son, other family members and some unidentified people, a medical source and residents told Reuters.

Coalition strikes around the city had killed a total of about 20 people, the deputy foreign minister for the Houthi administration, which holds much of northern Yemen, said on Twitter.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said strikes had damaged houses, killed at least a dozen people and wounded about a dozen.

The UAE has armed and trained Yemeni forces that recently joined fighting against the Houthis in Yemen's energy-producing regions of Shabwa and Marib. 

Monday's Houthi-claimed attack on two sites in the UAE set off explosions in fuel trucks, killing three people and igniting a blaze near Abu Dhabi airport.

In response, the UAE said it reserved the right to respond to "terrorist attacks and criminal escalation".

SOURCE: AFP/REUTERS