The Saudi-led coalition announced that it carried out air strikes today, Sunday, on military targets of the Houthi group, hours after the Kingdom announced the interception of 12 bombed drones launched by the Houthis on targets inside Saudi territory.
The Saudi media did not clarify the area in which these aircraft were intercepted or the sites that were targeting them, but indicated that the drones attempted to target civilians and civilian installations in a systematic and deliberate manner.
Saudi media quoted the coalition as saying that it carried out air strikes today, Sunday, on military targets of the Houthi group allied with Iran in Sanaa and several other provinces.
The coalition added that the specific operation is in line with international law and its customary rules, stressing that it will hold accountable "terrorist leaders" who try to target civilians.
The coalition confirmed that it destroyed an air defense system belonging to the Houthis in Marib, pointing to its support for the operations of the National Army and the tribes in the battles in the governorate.
Yemeni activists circulated video clips - on communication sites - that showed the raids launched by the Saudi-Emirati coalition aircraft this afternoon on Houthi sites in Sanaa.
The videos showed the moment of the strikes and columns of smoke rose from the targeting sites, according to the scenes circulated.
Sources told Al-Jazeera that raids targeted Houthi military sites in the capital, Sanaa, led by the "maintenance" camp of the Ministry of Defense.
The sources also reported that a fire broke out and explosions were heard at the site after the raids.
On the other hand, Houthi spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree said that their forces shot down a Saudi Air Force drone in the Yemeni governorate of Al-Jawf.
The air defenses were able, by the grace of God, to shoot down a Turkish-made Kariyal fighter plane belonging to the Saudi Air Force while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Al-Marazeeq area in Al-Jawf governorate this afternoon.
The targeting process was carried out with a suitable missile, which has not been disclosed yet.
- Brigadier General Yahya Saree (@ army21ye) March 7, 2021
"The Houthi group’s targeting of Saudi Arabia will not stop unless Riyadh adheres to what he called a cessation of aggression, lifting the siege and ending its tutelage over Yemen," said the Undersecretary of the Houthi Information Ministry, Nasreddin Amer.
Amer added - in an interview with Al-Jazeera - that the Houthi strategy in confronting Saudi Arabia depends on developing military capabilities, stressing that the group relies on pressure through military operations to be a means towards achieving peace, as he put it.
Yesterday, Saturday, the Houthi group announced that the Saudi-Emirati coalition warplanes launched 18 air strikes on areas in the Marib Governorate.
She explained that 14 of them took place in the Serwah district, and 4 in the districts of "Medgil" and "Mahliya", and the Houthis did not mention the losses that resulted from those raids.
Yemeni army sources said that the raids targeted reinforcements, vehicles, and gathering sites for the Houthis on the battle fronts, and that they led to dozens of deaths and injuries and the destruction of their vehicles.
Fighting renewed
Meanwhile, Yemeni military sources said that dozens of people were killed as a result of renewed clashes between government forces and the Houthis on several fronts in the Marib governorate.
The same sources told Al-Jazeera that the army forces thwarted what it described as a massive infiltration attempt by the Houthis in the Sarwah district, west of the governorate, and the army's artillery targeted Houthi sites and vehicles.
On the humanitarian front, the director of the Executive Unit for the Management of Displaced Persons Camps in Marib, Saif Muthanna, said that the displacement movement is still continuing in the Marib governorate due to the Houthi attacks.
He added that the total number of displaced people in Marib exceeded two million people, and that their social conditions are very poor, and they need urgent humanitarian aid, and among them are 15,000 IDPs from the Sarwah district within one month.
Targeting camps
In the city of Taiz to the west, a military source confirmed that a soldier was killed and 6 wounded in the targeting of a National Army camp in the city of Al-Turbah, south of the governorate.
The source said that a plane bombed by Houthi militants targeted the Al-Afa camp in the Al-Asabeh area in the Al-Shamayatayn district, killing one soldier and wounding 6 others.
It is noteworthy that this is the third drone that the National Army forces shot down in the Al-Shamayatayn district, Taiz, in the past 3 months.
Clashes have renewed between the Yemeni army forces and the Houthi militants in the northeastern front of Taiz.
Local sources said that strong confrontations broke out yesterday evening, Saturday, in which light, medium and heavy weapons were used, and the size of the losses on both sides was not known.
The eastern front of the city is witnessing intermittent clashes following a widespread attack by the army, which has made progress towards the vicinity of the Republican Palace and a number of eastern neighborhoods.