RIYADH — The Saudi-led coalition launched a series of air strikes against Houthi rebels positions in the eastern area of Yemen's capital on Thursday, according to the coalition's official spokesman.

A statement issued by the Official Spokesperson of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, Brig. Gen. Turki Al-Malki, said, “Coalition Air Force has conducted today, Thursday, a military operation against legitimate military targets in the Capital Sana’a in response to the threats, neutralizing the dangers of imminent attacks using ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones to target civilian infrastructures in the Kingdom."

The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition has exercised during the past months utmost restraint in face of the gross humanitarian violations and deliberate, systematic, hostile, brutal attacks by the Iran-backed Houthi militia. This was in support of UN efforts and initiatives to reach a sustainable and comprehensive political resolution in Yemen, the statement said.

The militia is continuing its hostile and irresponsible behavior by deliberately targeting civilians and civilian objects, such as civilian airports (Abha International Airport and King Abdullah Airport in Jazan), which is a deliberate attempt against multinational civilian passengers, Gen. Al-Malki said, adding that the militia also targeted electric power stations and other civilian infrastructures in Saudi Arabia.

Against these gross violations and in the absence of any global deterrence that considers the Houthi militia as an existential threat to international peace and security, the coalition carried out the military operation to protect civilians and civilian objects from such gross violations, the statement said.

"Civilians and civilian objects are a thin red line that should not be crossed," Gen. Al-Malki said.

The military operation was conducted in line with the conventions of International humanitarian law, and took into account preventative measures to spare civilians any collateral damage, he added.

"Should the Houthi militia continue to persist in their gross violations of targeting civilians and civilian objects and infrastructures, they must prepare for what is wider and more extensive in accordance with the International humanitarian law,” the coalition warned. — SPA