A Saudi-led coalition fighting Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen has unleashed a barrage of airstrikes on the capital and a strategic Red Sea city, officials said on Saturday. At least eight people were killed. The airstrikes in Sanaa and Hodeidah – both held by the Houthis – came a day after rebels attacked an oil depot in the Saudi city of Jeddah, their highest attack in the kingdom to date. Prison. General Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said the strikes targeted “sources of threat” to Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi state news agency or SPA. He said the coalition intercepted and destroyed two drones loaded with explosives early Saturday. He said the drones were fired from Houthi-controlled civilian oil facilities in Hodeidah, urging civilians to stay away from oil facilities in the city. Footage circulating on the internet showed flames and smoke over Sanaa and Hodeidah. Associated Press reporters in the Yemeni capital heard loud explosions that shook residential buildings there. Yemeni police inspect Saudi airstrikes targeting two houses in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday, March 26, 2022. The Houthi media office claimed that an airstrike hit Social Security’s guard houses, killing at least one person. three others, including women and children. (AP Photo / Hani Mohammed)) SAUDI ARABIA SAYS “DOES NOT BEAR ANY RESPONSIBILITY” FOR LACK OF OIL SUPPLIES The Houthis said coalition airstrikes had hit a power plant, a gas station and the state-run social security office in the capital. The Houthi media bureau claimed that an airstrike hit the homes of security guards at the Hana district of Sanaa, killing at least eight people and injuring four others, including women and children. The office shared images that it said were from the aftermath of the airstrike showing debris in the yard of a social security office with the broken windows of a nearby high-rise building. Hamoud Abad, a local Houthi official in Sanaa, said the facility was located near a building used by UN services in the capital. He claimed that UN vehicles seemed to be leaving the area before the airstrikes. In Hodeidah, the Houthi media bureau said the coalition had hit oil installations in violation of the 2018 ceasefire agreement that ended months of conflict in Hodeidah, which manages about 70 percent of Yemen’s trade and humanitarian imports. The blasts also hit nearby Port Salif, also in the Red Sea. A puppet appears at a Saudi-led airstrike targeting two houses in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday, March 26, 2022. A Houthi media outlet claimed that an airstrike hit the homes of security guards, killing at least seven people. and injuring three others, including women and children. (AP Photo / Hani Mohammed) RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR EXPOSES BETWEEN OBAMA, BIDEN OFFICERS WITH RICH LEADER IN OIL COUNTRY Al-Malki, a spokesman for the coalition, said he was targeting drones being prepared in Hodeidah to be launched into the kingdom. He accused the Houthis of using civilian infrastructure, such as the ports of Hodeidah and Sanaa airport, to launch attacks on Saudi oil facilities, according to the SPA. A UN mission overseeing the Hodeidah Accords has expressed concern about airstrikes and urged the warring parties to “maintain the political character of the ports and avoid damaging civilian infrastructure”. The escalation, which comes on the seventh anniversary of the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in the Yemeni war, is likely to complicate the efforts of UN special envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg to achieve a humanitarian truce during the war. month of Ramadan “. April. It comes as the Gulf Cooperation Council plans to host the warring parties for talks later this month. However, the Houthis rejected Riyadh – the capital of Saudi Arabia where the GCC is based – as a venue for talks, which are expected to include a number of Yemeni factions. “Once again we see civilians bearing the brunt of this conflict, which is getting worse every year,” said Erin Hutchinson, director of Yemen at the Norwegian Refugee Council, a charity working in Yemen. “This escalation is not going to do anything to elevate the difficulties that millions are going through.” A Yemeni soldier inspects an airstrike site in Saudi Arabia targeting two houses in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday, March 26, 2022. three others, including women and children. (AP Photo / Hani Mohammed) BIDEN SENTS SIGNIFICANT NUMBER OF PATRIOT AGAINST SYSTEM TO SAUDI, SAYS US SERVICE Violent war in Yemen erupted in 2014 after the Houthi occupation of Sanaa. Months later, Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a devastating air campaign to oust the Houthis and restore the internationally recognized government. The conflict has escalated in recent years into a regional war of attrition that has killed more than 150,000 people, including more than 14,500 civilians. It also created one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world. The Houthi attack on Friday came ahead of a Formula One race in the kingdom on Sunday, raising concerns about Saudi Arabia’s ability to defend itself against Iranian-backed rebels. Friday’s attack targeted the same fuel depot that the Houthis had attacked in recent days – the Bulk North Jiddah factory, southeast of the city’s international airport, which is a critical hub for Muslim pilgrims heading to Mecca. Satellite images from Planet Labs PBC analyzed by the Associated Press showed that one of the two tanks damaged in the Houthi attack on Jeddah was still burning late Saturday morning. Intense red flames sprang from the tank with dense black smoke emerging from the fire. The attack appeared to be targeting new tanks, as a tank hit twice by the Houthis just two rows north seemed untouched in the new attack. A tank next to the burning one seemed to have a white wrapper and fire foam around it. CLICK HERE TO RECEIVE THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION In Egypt, hundreds of passengers were stranded at Cairo International Airport after their flights to Jeddah were canceled due to a Houthi attack, airport officials said. The flagship of the Saudi airline Saudia announced the cancellation of two flights on its website. Both were booked for 456 passengers. The third canceled flight with 146 passengers was operated by the Saudi low-cost airline Flynas. Some passengers found seats on other flights to Saudi Arabia and others were detained in hotels near Cairo airport, according to Egyptian officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they had no authority to inform the media.
