27 killed in strikes on Sanaa village as Yemeni government claims advances in Marib

At least 27 people have been killed and about 30 others wounded in strikes on a village in Sanaa province, Yemen, the Houthi-run Saba news agency reported on Saturday.

Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Sanaa-based Ministry of Health, said the attacks struck al-Shariya village, north of the capital. He said most of the casualties were women and children.

The Iran-backed Houthis — also known as Ansar Allah — blamed the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government forces for the attack. The president of the group’s Supreme Political Council, Field Marshal Mahdi al-Mashat, vowed to avenge the attack.

Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government have not commented on the reported strikes. Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify the claims.

On the same day, Yemeni government forces said they had repelled Houthi assaults in Marib province. In a statement, the forces said troops backed by warplanes and drones had fought for hours to halt Houthi advances, destroying fortifications and combat equipment.

Government forces also said their troops were pushing into Houthi-held areas of al-Jawf province, where fighting entered a third consecutive day as part of the “Dawn of Yemen” operation launched more than a month ago by the internationally recognised government.

In a separate statement, government forces spokesman Colonel Majed al-Nazili said the army had carried out 875 attacks on Houthi positions on Saturday. He claimed about 130 Houthi commanders and fighters had been “neutralised” and 50 vehicles and missile launchers destroyed or disabled.

The incident comes a day after the Houthis and Yemen’s government traded blame over an attack that killed civilians at a market in Taiz. Reporting from Sanaa, Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry said the Houthis put the civilian death toll from the past two days at 55, blaming Saudi air strikes, while Yemeni government officials have held the Houthis responsible for most of the casualties.

“Two narratives are blaming each other and pointing the finger at each other, while this is taking a toll on civilian casualties,” Mawry said.

As fighting continues, the Houthis separately claimed to have launched six attacks on Saudi targets using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones. They said they had targeted King Khalid international airport and oil facilities in Riyadh, an oil site in Khurais, an oil pumping station in Dawadmi, a National Guard camp in Najran and what they described as Saudi troop gatherings in Yemen’s al-Jawf and Marib provinces. They did not say when the attacks were carried out.

Colonel Turki al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-backed coalition supporting Yemen’s government forces, said early on Saturday that they had shot down a Houthi ballistic missile over the Riyadh region.