The Saudi-led coalition pounded Shia rebels in Yemen on Tuesday, killing 20 in a city in the country’s west as the civilian death toll rose to 38 from airstrikes the day
before in the capital, Sanaa, officials said.
The US backed campaign by Saudi Arabia and its allies, mainly Gulf Arab countries, is aimed at crushing the rebels, known as Houthis, who have taken over Sanaa and areas in northern Yemen and have been pressing an offensive to expand their gains in the rest of the country, including the southern port city of Aden.
The ground fighting and airstrikes have pushed Yemen to the brink of collapse. The fighting has also taken on the appearance of a proxy war between Iran, the Shiite powerhouse backing the Houthis, and Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia. Airstrikes hit a gathering of the Houthis in the western of Ibb, killing 20 fighters, security officials on the ground said. The rebels were assembling to head to Aden as reinforcements in the battle against forces loyal to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the country from Aden to Saudi Arabia last month.