Saudi coalition denies Yemen prison airstrike

The Saudi-led coalition has denied as “groundless” reports it carried out an air strike on a prison in Yemen’s rebel-held north that aid groups said killed at least 70 people, including migrants, women, and children.

Iran on Saturday condemned recent air strikes on rebel-held areas of Yemen, warning they make achieving peace in the war-torn country “more difficult”.

Yemenis inspect the damage a day after a reported Saudi-led airstrike targeting a prison in the Huthi stronghold of Saada in northern Yemen. (AFP)

The Saudi-led coalition has denied as “groundless” reports it carried out an air strike on a prison in Yemen’s rebel-held north that aid groups said killed at least 70 people, including migrants, women, and children.

Saudi Arabia accuses regional rival Iran of providing military support to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, claims that Tehran denies. “The continuation of the coalition’s military attacks on Yemen with the silence and indifference of the international community and the uncontrolled sale of weapons to the aggressors... has made the path to achieve a just peace in the country even more difficult,” Iran foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said.

Deadly fighting between IS, Kurdish forces in Syria

Fighting raged for a third day Saturday between the Islamic State group and Kurdish forces in Syria after IS attacked a prison housing jihadists, with the violence killing nearly 90, a monitor said. The assault on the Ghwayran prison in the northern city of Hasakeh is one of IS’s most significant since its “caliphate” was declared defeated in Syria nearly three years ago.