Dozens killed in attacks on Yemen rebel heartland

UBAI: Clashes in the Yemeni rebel heartland of Saada province have killed 40 rebel fighters, Saudi media said Wednesday, while the rebels reported nine civilians among 22 dead in Saudi-led air strikes. The rebels were killed in clashes over the past 24 hours with a pro-government alliance backed by Saudi Arabia, which controls several pockets of the province along the Saudi border, the kingdom’s state-run Al-Ekhbariya television reported. An official of the province’s rebel-run health department said four children were among the nine civilians killed in air strikes over the past 24 hours. The rebels’ Al-Masirah television said a single strike on the province on Tuesday night killed nine people, four of them civilians.