The war in Yemen
The Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen carried
out at least 29 air strikes on Sanaa province, hours after Houthi rebels fired
a ballistic missile towards the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Residents told Al Jazeera that bombs "rained
down" on several neighbourhoods of the capital on Sunday, targeting a stage in
al-Sabeen square used by Houthi rebels for military parades, the nearby
presidential palace, the national security headquarters and the interior
ministry.
The Houthi-run Saba news agency reported more than 15
air strikes in Sanaa and a further 14 in the districts of Sinhan and Bani
Bahloul.
Fatik al-Rodaini, an activist based in the capital,
told Al Jazeera some of the raids targeted Sanaa's old city, a UNESCO world
heritage site.
"I am fearing for my children's lives. They
haven't gone outside all day. Just a few minutes ago I was thinking of letting
them run to the shops but we heard another loud explosion and my wife said
'no'. "This is the worst day I've experienced since the
start of the war," Rodaini said.
"The Saudis don't care about our children, our
future, our lives. They know that civilians live in close proximity to
government buildings yet they continue to target those areas - they just don't
care."
Hours earlier, the Saudi military confirmed
intercepting a ballistic missile that was fired from Yemeni territory towards
the kingdom.
'Riyadh sleeps peacefully'
Colonel Turki al-Maliki said Saudi forces
intercepted the ballistic missile with a surface-to-air Patriot missile, which
caused it to shatter into fragments in an "uninhabited area" east of
Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport.
The Houthis - a
group of rebels who control Saada province, the capital Sanaa, as well as other
parts of central Yemen - claimed responsibility for the attack, vowing to
target the capitals of all Arab countries that are bombing the country.
"Riyadh slept in peace and comfort and last night
due to the efforts of the Saudi armed forces," al-Maliki said.
"We will continue to target the Houthis and their
missiles that are sponsored by the Iranians," he added.
In an interview with Al Jazeera earlier this month,
Mohammed Abdul Salam, a spokesman for the Houthi rebels, threatened to escalate
operations on the Yemeni-Saudi border and target deep inside the kingdom.
"The Saudis started the war. Our response will
continue and increase, whether it's targeting deep inside Saudi Arabia,
targeting military positions where Saudi jets fly from, or military bases
inside Yemeni territory," Abdul Salam said.
"Abu Dhabi and others that target Yemen are - as
far as we're concerned - a fair military target. Any country that targets Yemen
will be struck by our missiles."
Yemen, which sits on the southern edge of the Arabian
Peninsula, has been engulfed in war since September 2014, when Houthi fighters
swept into the capital and overthrew President Abd.Kabbu Manosur Hadi`s internationally recognised government.
Concerned by the rise of the Houthis, believed to
be backed by regional rival Iran, Saudi Arabia
and a coalition of Sunni Arab
states launched an intervention in 2015 in the form of a massive air campaign
aimed at reinstalling Hadi's government.
Since then, the Houthis have been dislodged from most
of the south, but remain in control of Sanaa and much of the north.
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