Coalition targets Houthi leadership in strike on presidential palace

The Saudi-led coalition said it was behind two air raids Monday on the office of the presidency in Yemen’s rebel-held capital, which were reported to have killed six people and wounded dozens. (Photo: Screengrab)

• The same day Yemeni forces also tightened control over routes leading to the center of Kataf district in Saada province
• Over the past week the army has also made advances against the Houthi militia in Taiz

RIYADH: The Arab coalition on Monday confirmed that it had carried out airstrikes on the presidential palace in Sanaa targeting the top Houthi leadership.

Coalition spokesman Col. Turki Al-Maliki announced during the weekly press conference in Riyadh. 

“Intelligence was behind this targeting of the presidential palace in Sanaa, and Houthi leaders were there,” he said.

Some of the Houthis targeted were on the coalition’s most-wanted list, he added.

Abu Dhabi-based Sky News Arabia said two Houthi leaders, including Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi, the head of the group’s supreme revolutionary committee, were inside the palace at the time, but did not say what happened to them, according to Reuters.

The Arab coalition has been at war with the Iranian-backed Houthis since 2015, to restore the country’s internationally recognized government.

A coalition airstrike last month killed the Houthis’ top civilian leader in Yemen, Saleh Al-Sammad, the most senior official to be killed by the alliance.

He was second only to Houthi leader Abdel Malek Al-Houthi on the coalition’s most-wanted list. A $20 million reward had been offered for any information leading to Al-Sammad’s capture.

His death deals a major blow to the militias, who have been fighting the coalition-backed pro-government forces since March 2015.

Al-Maliki said the Houthis were preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the civilians.

He said as many as 17 vessels laden with humanitarian aid are docked at Yemen’s Hodiedah Port. 

The spokesman said the Houthis are continuously causing problems and the coalition has lodged a complaint with the UN in this regard.

He also showed a video of the anchored ships at the Yemeni port. 

Al-Maliki said the Houthis are also preventing international organizations from carrying out vaccination drives against cholera, aggravating the health crisis in the war-torn country.

The coalition spokesman said Houthis continue to target different parts of Saudi Arabia using Iranian-supplied ballistic missiles.  

“It is not only a threat to the Kingdom and the Gulf region but also to the entire world. The weapons are in the hands of terrorists.”