Houthis say Saudi strikes near Sanaa killed 33, most of them women and children

At least 33 people were killed and 39 wounded when airstrikes hit a village near Yemen's capital Sanaa on Saturday, according to the Houthi-run Saba news agency. The Houthi health ministry said the strikes targeted homes in Bani Hushaysh, a Houthi stronghold east of the city, and that most of the dead were women and children. Reuters said it could not independently verify the account. Saudi Arabia's Center for International Communication said it was investigating the report.

A doctor at a Sanaa hospital described a scene of repeated strikes catching rescuers mid-rescue. Abdul-Aziz al-Dailami, director of Sehatuna Hospital, told Reuters that many victims were still trapped under the rubble, first responders among them. The strikes keep coming, he said, with fresh hits landing just as rescue teams arrive, and some medical responders killed. He added that the wounded arrived in critical condition, with head, chest and leg injuries and fractures.

The attack lands as one of the deadliest reported since fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis reignited in July. That renewed combat shattered a 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely silenced attacks between the Saudi-led coalition and the group, which controls Sanaa. Since then, the Houthis have fired missiles and drones at Saudi airports and oil facilities, while Riyadh has launched airstrikes inside Yemen backing its local allies.

The conflict is a spillover from the wider US-Iran confrontation, and it has revived a 12-year war that produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and left the Arab world's poorest country fragmented. Displacement is climbing fast. The International Organization for Migration said in October that more than 200,000 people have been forced from their homes since the latest round of fighting began.