Yemen rebels say coalition air raid killed 9 civilians

Huthi rebels in Yemen said on Friday an air raid by Saudi-led coalition warplanes on a house northeast of the capital Sanaa killed nine civilians including women and children.

The raid hit a house in Maran village, "killing nine people, the majority of them women and children, and wounded others", the rebel-controlled sabanews.net website said.

The report accused the coalition of deliberately targeting the house and called for international intervention to "end systematic massacres and aggression" in Yemen.

It was not possible to verify the toll independently.

On Wednesday, the Iran-backed Shiite Huthis said coalition aircraft killed 16 people including women and children when they attacked a house in Saada province, the insurgents' heartland in north Yemen.

The Arab coalition launched a military campaign against the Huthis and their allies in March 2015, after the rebels closed in on Gulf-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi in his southern refuge of Aden, forcing him into exile.

More than 6,600 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since then, according to UN figures.

After the failure in Kuwait of UN-sponsored peace talks, the Arab coalition resumed its air campaign on August 9 and the rebels stepped up attacks against the border regions of neighbouring Saudi Arabia.