A Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen carried airstrikes on the capital and a strategic Red Sea city, officials said Saturday.
The overnight airstrikes on Sanaa and Hodeida, both held by the Houthis, came a day after the rebels attacked an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jiddah, their highest-profile assault yet on the Kingdom.
The Houthis' Friday attack came ahead of a Formula One race in the kingdom on Sunday. The attack targeted the same fuel depot that the Houthis had attacked in recent days, the North Jiddah Bulk Plant that sits just southeast of the city's international airport and is a crucial hub for Muslim pilgrims heading to Mecca.
Brig. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the strikes targeted "sources of threat'' to Saudi Arabia, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
Footage circulated online showed flames and plumes of smoke over Sanaa and Hodeida.
The Houthis claimed the coalition airstrikes hit a power plant, a fuel supply station, and the state-run social insurance office in the capital.
A Houthi media office claimed an airstrike hit houses for guards of the social insurance office, killing at least seven people and wounding three others, including women and children. It did not provide evidence and journalists were not allowed at the site.
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