'156 Yemeni rebels killed south of Marib'

RIYADH — More than 150 Houthi rebels have been killed in air raids south of Marib, a major hotspot of Yemen's civil war, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the militants said on Monday.

Hundreds of Iran-backed rebels and military have died in a resurgence of fighting for the city, the internationally recognised government's last northern outpost.

Thirty-three air strikes were carried in the past 24 hours in Abdiya district, leaving 156 rebels dead, the coalition said.

"The targeting process included the destruction of eight military vehicles, and casualties exceeded 156 terrorist elements," it said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The coalition said the operations were carried out "to protect innocent civilians in Abdiya".

Seventeen pro-government fighters were killed in the past few days in Abdiya, a military source told AFP. The rebels rarely announce casualties in their own ranks.

Yemen has been devastated by a seven-year conflict pitting the Shiite Houthi rebels against the government supported by a Saudi-led military coalition.

The Houthis renewed their campaign to capture Marib last month. The resulting clashes and air strikes have left hundreds of rebels and loyalists dead.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and millions have been displaced since the conflict flared in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa.

Marib is not the only flashpoint.

The rebels were also blamed for a drone attack on a civilian airport in Jeddah, across the border in Saudi Arabia, that wounded 10 people on 

Friday.