The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen announced on Sunday that it had carried out air strikes against the Huthi rebels in the city of Dhamar, south of the capital Sanaa.

According to the Huthirebeller television channel al-Masirah, there are seven air strikes directed at a building used by the rebels as a prison.

The International Red Cross Committee (ICRC), which is now sending medical assistance, fears a high death rate following the air strikes.

High death rate

"We estimate that over 100 people were killed," says Franz Rauchenstein, who leads the ICRC delegation in Yemen.

However, the Saudi-led coalition states in a statement that the building was a military target where drones and robots are stored.

"We took all precautionary measures to protect civilians," the statement said.

The violence in Yemen has escalated in recent weeks since the Southern Transitional Council (STC), which wants an independent South Yemen and government troops to start fighting in the port city of Aden.

Split the coalition

The fighting in southern Yemen has led Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which are allies in the fighting against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen, now support warring parties in southern Yemen.

Saudi Arabia supports the government forces while the United Arab Emirates supports the Southern Transitional Council. Last week, the United Arab Emirates, which supports STC, took on several air strikes against the port city of Aden. According to Yemen's Defense Minister, more than 300 people were killed in the attacks, but the figures have not been verified by independent sources.

At the same time, both the terrorist organization IS and al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (Aqap) have increased activity recently.

Already the war erupted in 2015, Yemen was one of the world's poorest countries. Today after a large proportion of hospitals and schools were forced to close. Because of the war, three-quarters of the country's 29 million inhabitants depend on outside aid to survive.