Saudi media quoted the coalition as saying that the Houthis transferred qualitative weapons to Camp Al-Tashrafat during the 6-hour deadline given by the coalition to the Houthis to remove weapons from Al-Thawra Stadium in Sanaa. The coalition said that it destroyed 9 weapons stores in the camp after transferring weapons to it.

Yemeni sources stated that the bombing also targeted the Al-Thawra Stadium, and damaged houses adjacent to the camp. Houthi media said that the raids targeted the intersection of Al-Zubayri and Baghdad Streets in Sanaa, and that two raids targeted an area close to Al-Alia Hospital in Ma'in, and nearby houses were damaged.

In the early hours of Friday morning, the Saudi-led coalition announced the start of an operation in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, which is controlled by the Houthis, in response to the principle of military necessity.

And Saudi media reported that the coalition confirmed that it was monitoring the transfer of weapons, and that it was destroying them and targeting the Al-Thawra stadium. It also asked civilians in Sana’a not to gather or approach the target site.

Yemeni sources told Al-Jazeera that coalition airstrikes targeted the northern areas of Sanaa, referring to the succession of raids where the Al-Thawra Sports Stadium is located.

Earlier on Thursday, the coalition said that the Houthis should remove weapons from the Al-Thawra Sports Stadium, and added that it would drop protection from the Al-Thawra Stadium if the Houthis did not comply with the provisions of international humanitarian law.

For their part, the Houthis demanded that an international team visit Al-Thawra Stadium in Sana'a to verify that it was free of any weapons, and local Yemeni media broadcasters broadcast pictures of their visit to the sports city in the capital.

Tribal fighters loyal to the government confront the Houthis in Marib (Reuters)

Destruction and accusation

Earlier on Thursday, Saudi official media said that the coalition forces destroyed a booby-trapped boat before launching an imminent attack in the southern Red Sea.

The statement of the coalition forces accused the Houthi group of launching the booby-trapped boat from the Yemeni governorate of Hodeidah.

The coalition announced the destruction of 99 booby-trapped boats that threatened freedom of navigation in the Bab al-Mandab strait and the southern Red Sea, pointing to the destruction of a booby-trapped drone that tried to target Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia.


raids

For its part, Houthi media said Thursday that the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen launched 58 raids on sites in the governorates of Sanaa, Marib, Al-Jawf and Al-Hodeidah.

Yemen has been witnessing for nearly 7 years a continuous war between pro-government forces backed by an Arab military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have controlled several governorates, including Sanaa, since September 2014.

The United Nations says that by the end of 2021, the war in Yemen will have killed 377,000 people directly and indirectly.

The war has cost the country's economy $126 billion, in one of the worst humanitarian and economic crises in the world, with most of the population of 30 million dependent on aid, according to the United Nations.