Yemenis in Sanaa mourn dozens killed in strike blamed on Saudi Arabia

Large crowds gathered in the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Wednesday to mourn the deaths of dozens of people, nearly half of them children, killed last week in strikes blamed on Saudi Arabia.

Mourners prayed at the city's Mosque of the People -- formerly the Saleh Mosque, but renamed by the Iran-backed Houthis after they took over the capital -- and chanted "Death to America! Death to Israel!" according to an AFP photographer present.

Men and boys in white and brown-olive robes, some bearing rifles and traditional daggers, stood by the coffins near the mosque. Draped in white cloth, the caskets bore the photographs and names of those killed.

The Houthis said a Saudi strike on Saturday hit the village of al-Shariya, outside the capital, killing 44 people, including 21 children, and injuring 40 others.

The group's Almasirah television reported another strike as emergency personnel headed to the site to dig out survivors. AFP could not verify the claim.

They are among the latest casualties of a resumption in fighting that began over the summer, which the UN says has killed more than 1,600 people and displaced more than 300,000 in Yemen.

After prayers, the funeral procession took the bodies to al-Shariya for burial.

In the village, residents mourned their friends and relatives, with many breaking into tears.

Earlier this week, resident Daifallah Sarhan, a farmer, told AFP "they were all innocent... People were simply having a meal with their families and children" when the strikes hit.

Yemen has been reeling from war since 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa, with a Saudi-led coalition entering the conflict a year later in support of the government.

In July, a fragile 2022 truce fell apart after the Houthis allowed an Iranian plane to land in the capital in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace, setting off a spate of attacks.

Later, the Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities, before seizing Yemen's entire Red Sea coast in a lightning campaign.

The group has in turn reported frequent Saudi airstrikes.

Twenty-six people have been killed in Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia since hostilities resumed.

On Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition said on X that it had "intercepted and destroyed 3 cruise missiles launched by the Houthi terrorist militia toward the Riyadh area".

The Houthis damaged a skyscraper belonging to oil giant Saudi Aramco in the capital's financial district on Sunday.

Riyadh's international airport has also been targeted repeatedly.

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