AFP, Sanaa :Twenty civilians were among at least 45 people killed in Saudi-led air strikes on the rebel-held armed forces headquarters in the Yemeni capital early on Sunday, a medic said.”At least 20 civilians and 25 soldiers and officers were killed” in four raids that hit the headquarters in the Tahrir residential neighbourhood in central Sanaa, the medic said.The raids hit residential buildings, including five houses that were completely destroyed, witnesses said. The rebel-controlled Saba news agency said 44 people were killed and more than 100 wounded “including woman and children.”Warplanes of the Saudi-led coalition carried out a string of strikes across Yemen on Sunday against positions of the Huthi Shiite rebels and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.The U.S.-backed coalition began launching airstrikes on March 26 against the Iranian-backed Shiite rebels, known as Houthis, and their allies in the military and security forces. The Houthis seized Sanaa in September and later captured much of northern Yemen before advancing on the south in March.Their advance on the south forced internationally recognized President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee the southern port city of Aden to neighboring Saudi Arabia. He had earlier fled Sanaa to Aden.Sunday’s airstrikes came one day after the Houthis fired a Scud missile into Saudi Arabia, a dramatic escalation of the conflict. The attack indicated that despite more than two months of coalition airstrikes the rebels still pose a threat to cities across the border inside Saudi Arabia.The official Saudi Press Agency said two missiles launched from a Patriot missile battery shot down the Scud before dawn near the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait. The agency did not report any casualties in the attack, the first use of a Cold War-era Scud by the rebels since the airstrikes began.
