The Arab coalition carried out air strikes on Friday in Yemen’s Saada, a bastion of Houthi rebels, and warned all civilians to leave the restive province after declaring the entire territory a “military target.”
Saudi state television channel Al Ekhbariya said on Friday that the entire region would become a military target, as General Ahmed al-Asiri, the military spokesman for the coalition, said leaflets had been dropped in the Old Saada district urging residents to leave by 19:00 local time (16:00 GMT) on Friday.
The escalation comes in response to recent cross border attacks by the Houthis, which targeted Saudi cities near the Saudi-Yemen frontier.
“Our work now is reaching those [Houthis] who planned these attacks and who are hiding in Saada, and the places where the militias are,” Asiri said.
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“Our military operation will be longer and harsher, and will go after all Houthi commanders,” he added.
Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Riyadh, said the annoucement was the first time the coalition said it was going after the entire Houthi leadership.
Mortar and rocket salvoes fired from Saada killed eight people in the Saudi city of Najran on Tuesday and Wednesday, and Houthi forces shelled a Saudi air defence site near Najran on Thursday.
In response, the coalition launched more than 50 air raids in Saada overnight, destroying a suspected land-mine factory, a telecommunications complex and command centers.
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