Saudi-led raid kills 50 Yemen rebels

A Saudi-led coalition air strike has killed dozens of Yemeni insurgents including two commanders, state media said yesterday, in another blow to the rebels following the assassination of their political chief.

Yemen's Huthi rebels yesterday staged a public funeral for Saleh al-Sammad, head of their Supreme Political Council and effectively the insurgents' second-in-command, who was killed last week in an air raid claimed by Saudi Arabia and its allies.

His funeral came hours after Saudi Arabia's state-run Al-Ekhbariya television said two high-ranking insurgents were among more than 50 Huthis killed in a new strike overnight in the capital Sanaa.

The rebels have been locked in a war since 2015 with a Saudi-led military alliance fighting to restore the internationally-recognised Yemeni government to power.

Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya television said the strike had targeted the interior ministry in Sanaa, which is controlled by the rebels.

The Huthis, backed by Saudi Arabia's regional arch-rival Iran, confirmed an overnight air strike on Sanaa but gave no details.

The rebels, who hail from northern Yemen, control Sanaa and much of the country's north -- which borders Saudi Arabia -- and the key Hodeida port on the Red Sea coast.