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Yemenis walk past the site of a Saudi-led airstrike in Sanaa on January 25, 2016.
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Yemeni
Judge Yahya Rubaid was killed in his home, along with his wife, son,
daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. Five other family members and
two guards who were at the home were also injured.
Saudi coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmed Asseri denied claims that the airstrike targeted the home and civilians.
"We
do not target homes. We are looking for Scud missiles. We always
confirm, we do not attack residential sites. We attack storage," Asseri
told CNN by telephone.
The judge and his family members are among thousands of Yemeni civilian casualties in this war.
According
to the United Nations, there have been more than 8,100 civilian
casualties -- wounded and killed -- since the start of the war in early
2015. Of those, more than 2,800 have been killed. The Houthi-controlled
Health Ministry cites a much higher death toll of 7,000 since the war
began nearly a year ago.
The Houthis
are a minority group, allied with Iran, that overthrew Hadi's government
and seized power last year. Hadi is now exiled in Saudi Arabia.
The
Saudi-led coalition, which includes the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait,
Bahrain, Qatar and other countries, has launched airstrikes on Houthi
positions in Yemen since March 2015, with a brief truce last summer.
The
latest Saudi airstrikes in Sanaa have raised the death toll in Yemen to
at least 220 civilians in the past five days, Yemeni military spokesman
Sharaf Luqman told CNN.
"The Saudi
attacks are not focused on military targets. At least 190 homes were
attacked by airstrikes this week and eight factories. All of these
targets were civilian private-owned businesses," said Ahmed Al-Bahri, a
Houthi official in Sanaa.
Al-Bahri said
coalition forces are attacking Yemeni factories and businesses to
destroy the country's economic infrastructure. Last week, a major oil
refinery was destroyed by Saudi airstrikes in Yemen's province of
Hodieda, killing 15 civilians in the process.
Battles
on the ground escalated this week between Saudi-allied resistance
fighters and Houthi-led forces, spreading to six Yemeni provinces, as
Hadi's supporters tried to liberate cities controlled by the Houthis.
Meanwhile,
in Hadi's new temporary capital, Aden, militants shot and killed a
Yemeni colonel, Aden government official Col. Jamal Al-Shaabi said
Sunday.
The incident was the latest in
a series of targeted killings since the Yemeni government forces --
with support from the Saudi-led coalition -- liberated Aden from the
Houthis last July.
At least 28 Aden
government officials have been killed by militants over the last two
months, including its former governor, who was assassinated in early
December.

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