Saudi Arabia launches large-scale military operation in Yemen
Sana'a airport buildings damaged by coalition strikes on December 21, 2021. REUTERS - KHALED ABDULLAH
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Saudi Arabia on Saturday (December 25th) launched a "
large-scale
"
military operation
in Yemen after two people were killed and seven injured in the first fatal attack attributed to Houthi rebels in the Saudi kingdom in more than three years
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Riyadh has been operating in Yemen since 2015 at the head of a coalition to support government forces, at war for seven years against the Houthi rebels.
The latter, close to Iran, often strike Saudi territory from Yemen.
The kingdom's civil defense announced that two people, a Saudi and a Yemeni, were killed in an attack in the Saudi region of Jazan, bordering Yemen.
“
A projectile fell on a commercial building, killing two people, a Saudi and a Yemeni resident.
He injured seven civilians, including six Saudis and a Bangladeshi resident
, ”said an official Saudi statement.
Shortly after the attack, the coalition said it was “
preparing for a large-scale military operation
”.
First fatal attack since 2018
While Yemeni rebels regularly launch missiles and drones into neighboring Saudi Arabia, targeting its airports and oil infrastructure, this is the first deadly attack to hit the kingdom since 2018.
Yemeni doctors said three people were killed and six others were injured in retaliatory airstrikes by the coalition northwest of the rebel-held Yemeni capital Sana'a.
"
Three civilians, including a child and a woman, were killed and six others wounded, in the city of Ajama,
" doctors told AFP.
The anti-Houthi military coalition has indicated it will hold a press conference on Saturday.
In recent times, the fighting has intensified, with Saudi airstrikes on Sana'a, due to which the airport of the capital, under Saudi blockade since 2016,
can no longer accommodate since Tuesday the planes of humanitarian organizations and the UN
.
Riyadh says it is responding to drone attacks
fomented from this airport.
(With
AFP)
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