Seven members of Yemeni family killed in Saudi-led strike: residents

CAIRO/ADEN, Yemen Seven members of a family were killed in an overnight strike by Saudi-led warplanes on a border village in northern Yemen, residents said, as heavy clashes erupted across the frontier after Houthi fire killed one Saudi citizen.

In southern Yemen, the Saudi-led airforce launched nearly 20 raids on Houthi fighters in the port city of Aden, while fighters allied with exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi made advances near the Houthi-controlled al-Anad military base.

Saudi-led forces have been targeting fighters of the Iranian-allied Houthi group and supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh since in March, part of a campaign to restore Hadi to power.

Residents of the al-Mohssam village, in the northern Hajjah province, said two children and five men and women from the same family were killed in the overnight raid on their home.

A spokesman for the coalition was not immediately available for comment, but the alliance says it only targets Houthi militias and forces loyal to Saleh.

A spokesman for the Saudi civil service in the southern city of Najran said one citizen was killed and five wounded by projectiles fired from Yemen.

Saudi forces had earlier pounded the Houthis after fighters from the group attacked Jabal Tweileq, a hilltop on the Saudi side of the border.

The United Nations has said that more than 1,870 people have been killed and more than 7,000 wounded in the conflict since March 19.

SOUTH AND CENTRAL YEMEN

In the southern city of Aden, residents and fighters said that Saudi-led planes conducted up to 18 sorties over Houthi forces in Khor Maksar and Crater, and that columns of smoke were seen rising over the areas hit.

The Saudi-led air force also provided cover for fighters allied with Hadi known as the Southern Popular Resistance (SPR) as they captured al-Anad junction, a strategic intersection north of Aden from the Houthis fighters, residents and local fighters said.

They said at least six Houthis fighters were killed in the clashes with SPR forces after the southern fighters received reinforcements from Radfan area in the southern Lahj province.

In the central al-Dhalea province, residents said they had had the first night without fighting after the city of Dhalea was recaptured by local SPR fighters the day before, regarded as the Houthis' first significant setback in two months.

But residents warned that the Houthis had summoned reinforcements from the Yarim area in Lahj province apparently to try to recapture Dhalea.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari in Cairo and Mohammed Mukhashaf in Aden,; writing by Sami Aboudi; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)