Saudi state media said early on Tuesday that the Riyadh-led coalition fighting the Houthi movement in Yemen announced the implementation of air strikes on military targets it described as legitimate in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, and warned civilians not to gather or approach the targeted sites.

Residents told Reuters that violent explosions rocked the northern neighborhoods of Sanaa after the raids, adding that the strikes targeted two military sites.

The coalition said - in a statement published by the official Saudi Press Agency - that "the operation targeted and destroyed secret ballistic missile sites, including a high-value target in the Dhahban neighborhood (north of Sanaa).


He added that "the secret sites have taken hospitals and the sites of organizations and civilians as human shields," and said, "We have taken preventive measures to spare civilians and civilian objects from collateral damage to the operation."

The Houthis admitted the strikes launched by the coalition on northern Sanaa, without giving details of casualties or damage.

A few days ago, the coalition launched raids on sites in Sana'a, and at the time, Houthi media said that the coalition launched 3 raids on the Dhahban area, and two raids on the Al-Nahdin area in the capital, Sana'a, without reporting casualties.


At that time, the coalition announced that it had carried out a wide operation that included targets in the governorates of Sanaa, Dhamar, Saada and Al-Jawf in Yemen, in response to the threats of ballistic missiles and drones.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched cross-border attacks on Saudi Arabia using drones and missiles since the coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the movement expelled the legitimate government from the capital.

The Yemeni Houthi group said on Saturday that it had launched 14 drones on several Saudi cities and targeted Saudi Aramco facilities in Jeddah.