Saudi-led coalition air strikes hit Yemeni capital

Saudi-led coalition jets pounded the Yemeni capital Sanaa overnight on Friday (January 29), repeatedly targeting a plastics factory, witnesses said.

The factory was hit by two air strikes on Friday night and another three on Saturday (January 30), witnesses said. Fierce fires raged in the aftermath of the strikes, releasing large plumes of black smoke into the sky.

Coalition forces have repeatedly targeted factories and warehouses in Sanaa, saying the Iran-backed Houthis, who control the city, use them to store weapons. Houthi forces often deny the allegations.

There were no official reports of casualties from the air strikes on the factory.

A Saudi-led coalition of mainly Sunni Gulf nations is backing fighters loyal to Yemen’s President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi as they battle the Houthis and loyalists of the country’s former leader in a war that has killed about 6,000 people.

Hadi fled Sanaa in 2015, after the Houthis — a Yemeni militia that hails from the Zaydi branch of Shi’ite Islam — seized his presidential palace. He now runs the government from their base in the southern port city of Aden after pushing out the Houthis last July.

The conflict has plunged the country into a severe humanitarian crisis and several rounds of United Nations sponsored peace talks have so far failed to end the conflict.