At least 33 people were killed and 39 wounded in alleged Saudi airstrikes on a village near Yemen's capital, Sanaa, on Saturday, according to the Houthi-run Saba news agency. This incident represents one of the deadliest reported attacks since fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthi group resumed in July.
Reuters has not independently verified the claims, and Saudi Arabia's Center for International Communication stated it is investigating the report. The recent escalation in hostilities has disrupted a 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely halted military actions between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi group, which currently controls Sanaa.
The Houthi-run health ministry indicated that the strikes impacted residential areas in Bani Hushaysh, a Houthi stronghold located east of Sanaa, and that a significant number of the casualties were women and children. Abdul-Aziz al-Dailami, director of Sehatuna Hospital in Sanaa, reported that numerous victims remained trapped under rubble, including first responders. "The strikes keep coming. Just as rescuers arrive, another strike hits. We have even lost some of our own medical responders, who have been martyred," al-Dailami told Reuters, adding that critically injured patients with severe head, chest, and leg wounds, as well as fractures, were received at the hospital.
This conflict, seen as a regional proxy war involving broader US-Iran tensions, has reignited a protracted 12-year war in Yemen, contributing to one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises and further fragmenting the impoverished nation. The International Organization for Migration reported in October that the number of people displaced since the latest round of fighting began has exceeded 200,000.
