Saudi-led coalition bombs Houthi targets in Yemen after drone attacks

Riyadh - Ten Houthi drones targeting civilians were destroyed on Sunday.

The Saudi-led military coalition battling Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Sunday it conducted air strikes on Houthi military targets in Sanaa and other regions after the group launched armed drones towards Saudi Arabia.

Also read: Saudi thwarts 10 drone attacks targeting civilians

The coalition, which said it had destroyed 10 armed drones, said in a statement on Saudi state media that 'civilians and civilian objects in the Kingdom are a red line'.

The coalition did not specify locations in the Kingdom. The US consulate in the Saudi Red Sea city of Jeddah issued an advisory, citing reports of suspected attacks and explosions on Sunday near Jeddah and the southern town of Khamis Mushait.

In the Houthi-held Yemeni capital Sanaa, a Reuters witness reported several air strikes. Plumes of black smoke were visible in the vicinity of a military compound near Sanaa University. The Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said coalition warplanes bombed Al Nahda and Attan districts.

The Houthis, who have been battling the coalition since it intervened in Yemen's civil war in March 2015, recently stepped up cross-border missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia.

Fighting has also intensified on the ground in Yemen in Marib and Taiz regions.

The escalation comes as the United States and the United Nations increase diplomatic efforts for a ceasefire to pave the way for a resumption of UN-sponsored political talks to end the conflict.