60 killed, 100 injured in fresh Saudi strikes on Yemen’s Dhamar

Saudi Arabia has carried out new air raids on Yemen’s western Dhamar Province, killing at least 60 people and wounding 100 others.

The al-Masirah TV channel reported on Sunday that warplanes belonging to the Saudi-led coalition had pounded a jail where prisoners of war were being kept.

Head of Yemen’s National Committee for Prisoners Affairs Abdul Qader al-Mortada said that the targeted prison housed over 170 prisoners of war, most of whom were supposed to be part of a local exchange deal.

The Saudi-led coalition claimed in a statement on Sunday that its aerial assaults on Dhamar had targeted a military site belonging to the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

It alleged that Houthi fighters had stored drones and air defense systems at the site, and claimed the strikes were “in accordance with international humanitarian law.”

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a deadly war on Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall a former regime and eliminate the Houthis, who have been defending the country along with armed forces.

PressTV-'Yemen war death toll exceeds 91,000'

New data brings the total number of reported fatalities in Yemen to over 91,000.

The Western-backed military aggression, coupled with a naval blockade, has destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and led to a massive humanitarian crisis.

Iran condemns airstrikes

Meanwhile, Iran condemned the deadly airstrikes in Dhamar as yet another “war crime” on the Saudi-led coalition’s record in Yemen.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said the targeted building had been recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a prison.

He also said weapons built and supplied by the United States and other Western countries were being used to carry out such crimes.

“Surely, the Yemeni people consider these countries partners to the crimes and hold them accountable,” Mousavi said.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 91,000 over the past four and a half years.

Over 100 believed killed in Yemen air strike: ICRC

Later on Sunday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said more than 100 people were believed to have been killed in the Saudi- airstrike on a detention center in Yemen.

"We estimate over 100 people were killed," Franz Rauchenstein, head of delegation for the ICRC in Yemen, told AFP after he traveled to the city of Dhamar.

The official added that at least 40 survivors were being treated for their injuries in hospitals in the city, south of the capital Sana'a.

The ICRC says it has sent medical teams and hundreds of body bags to Dhamar.

"As we speak, the teams are working relentlessly to find survivors under the rubble" and are "currently collecting bodies," Rauchenstein said, adding that the chances of finding anyone else alive in the heavy debris "are very low."

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