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Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen capital resume, airport shut – residents

Among those killed were at least 18 civilians at a market outside Yemen’s capital, Sanaa.

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Since the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes against the Houthis, the war has claimed 9,000 lives, displaced some 2.4 million people and pushed the Arab world’s already impoverished country to the verge of starvation.

Sanaa is under the control of the Shia Houthi group and allies of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The airstrikes came days after the suspension of inconclusive peace talks in Kuwait.

According to medics and the factory official, a large hangar used by the al-Aqel food company in Sanaa was hit in one of the overnight air strikes.

The raids come less than 72 hours after more than three months of UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait were suspended following the appointment by the rebels and their allies of a council to run Yemen.

Photographs posted by activists on social media show torn and charred bodies at the location.

The airstrikes destroyed the two food factory in Nahda quarter near the information ministry in downtown Sanaa.

The coalition is backing Yemeni forces loyal to the exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi in their bid oust Houthi forces from Sanaa, siding with Shiite Iran. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

The United Nations children’s Fund said in a statement on Tuesday that four children were “reportedly killed” on Sunday in Nehm but did not say who was behind the attacks. The UN child protection agency Unicef has said more than 1,100 children were confirmed to have died since the conflict began past year.

UNICEF was referring to reports of killings of nine civilians on Saturday.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, which oversees foreign arms sales, said that General Dynamics will be the principal contractor for the sale, adding it would contribute to U.S. national security by improving the security of a regional partner.

In a separate development, residents in Azzan in Yemen’s southern Shabwa province said Al Qaeda militants had dismantled their checkpoints and had withdrawn from the city on Tuesday following air strikes – apparently by the Saudi-led coalition forces – targeting their positions there.

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Rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel-Salam says the Saudi-led coalition has also closed the airspace over Sanaa, preventing the rebel delegation’s plane from reaching the capital.

Saudi-Led Coalition Resumes Bombing of Yemeni Capital After Talks Collapse