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Saudi-led warplanes strike Yemen's capital

Xinhua, August 29, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Saudi-led coalition launched seven airstrikes against TV aerials and rocket depots controlled by Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied forces in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Saturday, military sources said.

The airstrikes at dawn destroyed aerials and transmission equipment of the state TV station erected on the mountaintop of Cina'a in the southern part of the capital.

Other air raids targeted missiles depots in al-Nahdayn mountain camp and its surrounding presidential palace south of Sanaa, said the sources.

The houses of two military commanders who are relatives of rebel-allied former President Ali Abdullah Saleh were also hit during the airstrikes.

There were no words of casualties. The targeted locations were engulfed in flames as the explosions made residential quarters in downtown quake, according to the residents.

It's the fourth straight day since the coalition started air bombing the capital on Wednesday after the rebels fired a ballistic missile toward an electricity station in the Saudi Arabia's city of Jizan. The Saudis said they intercepted the missile, averted any damage and directed airstrikes against the source of fire in Yemen.

The coalition has launched airstrikes on a daily basis on the Iranian-allied Shiite Houthi group across the country since March 26, when President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi fled to the Saudi capital Riyadh to take refuge, aiming to restore Hadi's authority in the country.

The Shiite armed group seized much of the country, including the capital Sanaa in last September, saying it was a revolution against corrupt officials loyal to Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Over four weeks ago, Hadi's forces, backed by elite troops and armored vehicles from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, launched a number of offensives and captured the southern provinces of Aden, Lahj, al-Dhalea, Abyan and Shabwa.

UN humanitarian agencies have recorded at least 6,221 civilian casualties, including at least 1,950 civilians killed and 4,271 wounded in the five months of conflict.

There is no sign that the warring parties intend to end the civil war, as the impoverished Arab country is at risk to face all-out war extermination.

On Thursday, a large number of Yemeni troops trained in Saudi Arabia and equipped with modern military gear entered Yemeni border crossing al-Wadee'ah in Yemen's southeast province of Hadramout. They have already arrived in the oil-rich central province of Marib, some 173 km northeast of Sanaa, according to military sources there.

They said the forces are all geared up for ousting the anti-government rebels from the capital Sanaa in weeks. Endit