Saudi-led coalition launches 15 airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen's capital

(Xinhua)

The Saudi-led coalition launched on Monday 15 airstrikes on "military targets" in Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa, the residents and the Houthi-run media said.

The airstrikes hit Houthi militia's "military targets" in the north and south of Sanaa, including the Military College, the al-Daylami Military Airport and the Television Hill in the north of Sanaa, as well as the Attan Military Camp and al-Hafa military camp in the south of the capital, according to residents and the Houthi-run al-Masirah television.

Meanwhile, the coalition forces said they targeted "stores of ballistic missiles in Sanaa which threaten the lives of civilians," according to a statement aired by the Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television.

The airstrikes on Sanaa were the first by the Saudi-led coalition since last September when the Iran-backed Houthi militia said they would stop launching ballistic missiles and drone attacks against the Saudi capital of Riyadh if the coalition halts airstrikes on Sanaa.

On Sunday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for cross-border missile and drone attacks on several Saudi cities including Riyadh.

The Saudi air defense forces said they intercepted and destroyed ballistic missiles and drone attacks on Riyadh and civilian airports in the southern border cities of Jazan and Najran, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi group seized control of much of the country's north and forced the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi out of Sanaa.

The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in the Yemeni conflict in early 2015 to support Hadi's internationally-recognized government.