Saudi-led coalition in Yemen targets Houthi drone storage near presidential palace: State media
Aircraft from the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen on Saturday attacked a camp containing drones near Yemen's presidential palace in the Houthi-controlled capital, Saudi state TV reported.
The Saudi-led coalition backs the government of Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, which was ousted from power in Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014.
"The coalition staged a selective military operation to destroy a legal military target" a statement by the coalition issued later by the state-run Saudi News Agency (SPA) said on Saturday.
The coalition said the air raids targeted a cave used by the Houthis to store drones in a camp in the vicinity of the presidential complex, Reuters reported. The "military target, a cave used by the terrorist Houthi militia to stockpile drones, was destroyed," Colonel Turki al-Maliki said in a statement carried by SPA.
Earlier this month, the coalition said that Saudi air defences intercepted two drones launched by Houthi rebels that targeted Khamis Mushait, home to a major airbase in the southwest of the kingdom, AFP reported,
In January, the Houthis launched a drone attack on Yemen's largest airbase, Al-Anad, north of the southern port of Aden, during a military parade.
Seven people, including a high-ranking intelligence official, were killed in the attack. Eleven were wounded, including Yemen's deputy chief of staff Major General Saleh al-Zandani, who later died of his injuries.
Yemen's war has killed tens of thousands of people - some of them from coalition air strikes - and driven 10 million to the brink of famine.
The Arabian Peninsula country is also suffering its third major outbreak of cholera since the conflict began.
In December, the warring parties reached a deal at UN-led peace talks for a ceasefire and troop withdrawal from the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, Yemen's lifeline for fuel and food.
The truce has largely held but the withdrawal has stalled amid mistrust, calling into question the UN goal of further talks to agree a framework for political negotiations to end the war.
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