Saudi-led coalition 'destroys Houthi rebel drone facilities' in Sanaa

Footage taken by AFP overnight showed a series of explosions in the Yemeni capital, which has been under Houthi rebel control since 2014. 

This comes 10 days after the rebels killed seven loyalists in a drone attack on Yemen's largest air base in government-controlled Lahj province.

In Riyadh, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said that the alliance launched an "operation to destroy multiple military targets", including seven bases across Sanaa. 

Targets included alleged drone storage and testing areas, training bases, and bomb-manufacturing facilities, he said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Iran of supplying the rebels with weapons, something which Tehran denies.

The war between the Houthis and pro-government troops escalated in March 2015, when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled into exile in Riyadh and a Saudi-led military coalition intervened. 

Since then, the conflict has killed more than 10,000 people and unleashed the world's worst humanitarian crisis, according to the United Nations, although rights group believe the toll to be five times higher.

Last week, the United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the deployment to Yemen of up to 75 monitors in a mission to shore up a ceasefire and oversee a pullback of forces from Hodeida.

The observer mission was agreed during talks last month in Sweden between the Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels and an advance team is already on the ground in the rebel-held city.

The unarmed monitors will be sent to Hodeida city and port as well as to the ports of Saleef and Ras Issa for an initial period of six months.

The port of Hodeida is the entry point for the bulk of Yemen's supplies of imported goods and humanitarian aid, providing a lifeline to millions on the brink of starvation.

The UN says a ceasefire that went into force on December 18 in Hodeida has been generally holding, but there have been delays in the redeployment of rebel and government forces from the city.

The Houthis control most of Hodeida, while government forces are deployed on its southern and eastern outskirts.

The resolution calls on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to "expeditiously" deploy the United Nations Mission to support the Hodeida Agreement (UNMHA), led by retired Dutch General Patrick Cammaert.

Guterres described the mission as a "nimble presence" that will report on violations in Hodeida, which for months was the front line in the war after pro-government forces launched an offensive to capture it in June.

"The goal is to build on the current momentum, to make it irreversible and bring the full weight of the Security Council behind the process," said French Ambassador Francois Delattre ahead of the vote.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths has told the council that a follow-up round of talks scheduled for later this month was pushed back to February, diplomats said.

Griffiths said "substantial progress" was needed to shore up the ceasefire in Hodeida before a second round could be held.

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