Saudi-led coalition bombs drone sites in Yemen’s Sanaa – state media

CAIRO (Reuters) -The Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen said on Wednesday it launched air strikes on Houthi drone sites in the capital Sanaa in the second such raid in as many days after earlier targeting the Iran-aligned movement’s missile capabilities.

The alliance bombed a building under construction that was being used as “a secret factory” for drones and urged civilians to stay clear of areas with “legitimate” military targets, Saudi state media reported.

Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said on Twitter that two civilians were killed and another two injured in a strike on a building under construction which the channel said was part of Al-Yateem hospital in Moeen district.

Residents said there was no hospital in the vicinity of the targeted area. Reuters could not immediately independently verify the report of casualties.

On Tuesday, the alliance, which has been battling the Houthis for over six years in a conflict seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, said it destroyed a ballistic missile launch site.

The Houthis have repeatedly launched cross-border drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia since the coalition intervened in March 2015 after the movement ousted the Saudi-backed government from Sanaa.

The group recently ramped up attacks on the kingdom at a time the Houthis are pressing a ground offensive in Yemen’s gas-rich Marib, the internationally recognised government’s last northern stronghold, and other areas in Yemen.

The coalition, which has been criticised for civilian deaths in air strikes during the war, said it had taken measures to spare civilians any collateral damage.

The war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and caused a dire humanitarian crisis, has been in a military stalemate for years and U.N.-led efforts to engineer a ceasefire have stalled.

The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and foreign aggression.

(Reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Yomna Ehab; Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Editing by Chris Reese, Tom Hogue, Philippa Fletcher)