At least six killed as Saudi-led air strikes hit ancient Sanaa

UN-sponsored talks are due to be held in Geneva on Sunday to try to find a solution to the crisis


Reuters June 12, 2015
The strikes, which started in the early hours of the morning, destroyed five houses and damaged several other buildings, the Houthi rebel-controlled agency said. PHOTO: AFP

SANAA: Saudi-led coalition air strikes on Sanaa's Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, left at least six dead and several others injured, Yemen's state news agency Saba said on Friday.

The strikes, which started in the early hours of the morning, destroyed five houses and damaged several other buildings, the Houthi rebel-controlled agency said.

Read: 45 dead in Saudi-led raids on Yemen capital

The Old City has been inhabited for nearly 3,000 years and has a high density of unique ochre and white, mud-brick, tower houses, labyrinthine souqs, mosques and hammams or bathhouses.

For more than 11 weeks, an Arab military grouping led by Saudi Arabia has been bombing the Houthis, now the dominant group in Yemen, in a bid to restore the exiled president to power and support local fighters in battlefields nationwide.

UN-sponsored talks are due to be held in Geneva on Sunday to try to find a solution to the crisis which has left 80 percent of the population needing some form of humanitarian aid.

Read: Regional crisis: ‘Negotiations with Houthis only way out’

Inside Yemen, weeks of fighting between pro- and anti-government forces have killed almost 2,000 people and displaced more than half a million, according to the United Nations.

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