© AFPYemen’s Houthi Ansarullah fighters inspect the damage at the scene of Saudi airstrikes near the airport in the capital, Sana’a, on March 26, 2015.
Nearly 40 civilians have lost their lives as neighboring Saudi Arabia pushes ahead with its airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in Yemen, health officials say.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP on Friday that twelve of the 39 victims were killed when Saudi warplanes struck residential areas close to al-Samaa military base, north of the capital city of Sana'a.
The military base is used by army units believed to be loyal to former Republican Guard Commander Brigadier General Ahmed Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Three airstrikes also targeted the presidential compound in southern Sana'a in the wee hours of Friday, witnesses said.
The Saudi military aircraft also pounded an army brigade controlled by Ansarullah forces in Yemen's western province of Amran as well as arms depots in the Malaheez region in the northwestern city of Sa'ada, located 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of Sana'a.
© AFPYemeni men carry the body of a victim after pulling it from under the rubble of a building destroyed by Saudi airstrikes near Sana’a Airport, Yemen, on March 26, 2015.
Eight people were wounded when an anti-aircraft missile slammed into a market in central Sana'a on Friday. One of the injured is in a critical condition, a security official said.
Tribal sources also said overnight airborne assaults struck a military installation in the oil-producing central province of Marib, which is used by an army brigade loyal to Saleh.
On Thursday, Saudi fighter jets bombed an army camp located in the southern outskirts of Sana'a, inflicting "dozens" of casualties at the camp.
Press TV's correspondent in the Yemeni capital, said on Friday that Saudi Arabia has reportedly given a three-day ultimatum to Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah fighters to withdraw from all political and security intuitions and key military bases in the country, and leave the capital, otherwise they will face intensified attacks.
He noted that according to Ansarullah leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi's speech on Thursday, two fronts will be established in the country, a defensive front to preserve security in the capital, and an offensive front to counter the Saudi strikes.
Saudi Defense Minister Prince Mohammad bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (R) receives fugitive Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi at Riyadh Airbase on March 26, 2015.
The military aggression against Yemen comes as fugitive president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, arrived in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Thursday night. Riyadh says it has launched the strikes to defend the "legitimate government" of Hadi upon his request.
Saudi airstrikes against the impoverished Arab country have drawn condemnation from many countries, including Iran, Iraq and Russia, as well as the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah.
The blatant invasion of Yemen's sovereignty by Saudi government comes against a backdrop of total silence on the part of international bodies, especially the United Nations. The world body has so far failed to show any reaction whatsoever to violation of the sovereignty of one of its members by Riyadh.
Comment: And so the Axis of Evil invades yet another Middle Eastern country because it doesn't like its new leaders.