Asharq Al-Awsat reported that the Arab Coalition in Yemen has announced its airstrikes took out a secret hideout in Yemen housing experts belonging to the Iran Revolutionary Guard and Lebanese Hezbollah. This came as part of a wider operation the Coalition had staged on Thursday across four Yemeni governorates.

The Coalition explained that it had carried out a large-scale operation for legitimate military objectives. The operation was in response to the Houthi ballistic and drone threat.

The Coalition warned that civilian airports and civilians are a red line and that it will strike firmly within the framework of international humanitarian law.

The capital, Sanaa, as well as locations in the governorates of Dhamar, Saada, and Al-Jawf were hit in the wide-ranging Coalition operation to weaken the Iran-backed Houthi militia.

Al-Dulaimi airbase and warehouses in Sanaa were struck by coalition forces.

Hours earlier, the coalition blew up an explosive drone targeting Abha International Airport, in Saudi Arabia’s Asir province.

Abdulaziz bin Saqr, the head of the Gulf Research Center, stressed that the focus on air operations comes to ensure two things: the first is to provide cover and air support for the Yemeni forces on the ground, and the other is to strike strategic sites linked to the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Saqr pointed out that “Houthi forces do not possess and operate the missile and ballistic capabilities. Instead, they depend on external forces, mainly the Iranians and Hezbollah.”

“Air operations sometimes cannot hit Houthi sites that are stationed among civilians, and the focus is on targeting and destroying strategic sites, as we saw in the last operation that was carried out on Thursday,” Saqr told Asharq Al-Awsat.