Saudi Airstrike in Yemen Kills 33 Including Women and Children, Houthis Claim

At least 33 people, including women and children, have been killed in a Saudi Arabian airstrike, the Houthi armed rebel group in Yemen has claimed. The Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen's internationally recognised government, has not yet commented on the matter.

Live video footage from the Houthi-run television station Al Masirah showed rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble of several buildings in the town of Al-Shariah, east of the capital Sanaa.

Among the bodies dug out of the rubble were those of children. The channel also showed several injured people being carried to hospital on stretchers.

The Houthi-run news agency said Saudi Arabia carried out the strike on Saturday. It also said 39 people were injured in the attack.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition that has been fighting the Houthi rebels for more than a decade in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government.

Although the situation in Yemen had been relatively peaceful for several years, it has become unstable again recently because of the war with Iran. The ceasefire collapsed after Saudi Arabia struck the Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport to stop an Iranian plane from landing.

The Houthis then targeted Saudi Arabia's Abha airport. They then began a series of attacks on Saudi ships in the Red Sea. With the Strait of Hormuz closed because of the Iran war, Saudi Arabia is using Yemen's Red Sea coast as an alternative route for oil exports.

Meanwhile, 30 people were reported killed in an attack on a market in Taiz province last Friday. The province has been at the centre of the recent fighting.

The Houthis have blamed Saudi Arabia for this attack, while government forces have accused the Houthis of a missile strike there.

The United Nations has said that since the renewed fighting began, more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced.

The Saudis are regularly bombing Houthi positions, while the rebel group has fired multiple missiles at targets inside Saudi Arabia, including airports and oil installations.

A few hours before the strike on Al-Shariah, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a missile heading towards Riyadh. Houthi leader Mahdi al-Mashat has vowed to avenge the recent strikes in Yemen.

A Houthi missile struck an administrative building of the state oil company Saudi Aramco in the Saudi capital Riyadh, causing minor damage to the building. No one was hurt, an official of Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said.