Saudi-led coalition says 115 Yemeni rebels killed

RIYADH — The Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said Monday it had killed 115 insurgents in the past 24 hours in air strikes around the northern Marib government bastion.

Nineteen vehicles were destroyed in the raids that targeted the Sirwah district west of Marib city and Al Jawf further north, it said in a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency SPA.

Marib, capital of the oil-rich province of the same name, is the internationally recognised government's last bastion in northern Yemen.

The Houthis began a major push to seize the city in February and, after a lull, they renewed their offensive in September.

The coalition has since October 11 issued near-daily reports of bombing around Marib, saying it has since then killed hundreds of insurgents.

AFP cannot independently verify the death tolls reported by the coalition and the Houthis rarely comment on losses.

The Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015 to shore up the internationally-recognised government, a year after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa.