Saudi air strike kills 54 Yemenis as US drawn into fight

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A Saudi air strike late Sunday has reportedly killed dozens, including women and children, in a north Yemen town known to support that country's Houthi rebels, reports Christian Science Monitor.
The strike highlights growing concern about stability on the Arabian peninsula as the US is reportedly becoming more involved in planning and executing strikes on Yemen's anti-government militants.
A spokesman for the Houthis claimed that a Saudi "massacre" killed 54 people in the town of Al Nadheer in the northern province of Saada, reports Agence France-Presse. The group also claimed on Sunday night that Saudi forces were advancing on the nearby town of Zawa, also in Saada, and had launched "more than 200 shells."
It is the second reported air strike on the border town of Razeh in a week, says Al Jazeera. An earlier air strike in a market there is said to have killed 70.
Citing Iran's Press TV and the Arabic-language news site Al Baida, Yemeni news site Al Sahwa Yemen reports that Saudi military sources say they have taken several Houthi positions in Saada and captured an unknown number of fighters.
They say Saudi forces "repelled rocket attacks launched by the Houthi fighters," who were planning an offensive inside Saudi Arabia. However, rebel sources instead tell Al Sahwa Yemen that Saudi forces targeted civilian areas with 60 rounds of air strikes.
The strikes comes just three days after The New York Times reported that the United States has provided weapons and logistical support to Yemeni government strikes against "suspected hide-outs of Al Qaeda within its borders."
That involvement has raised questions over whether the US has been active in Yemen - and Saudi Arabia's - fight against the Houthis as well. Hours after Sunday's air strike, US Admiral Mike Mullen praised the attack and repeated worries that Yemen could become "another safe haven" for terrorism in remarks to the Associated Press.