SANAA, Sept 11 (BBC/AFP): At least 35 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen on Wednesday, according to the Iran-backed group's health ministry.
The Israeli military said it struck military targets in the capital Sanaa and al-Jawf province, including what it called "the Houthis' military public relations headquarters", in response to recent missile and drone attacks on Israel.
However, the Houthis' military spokesman said the targets were civilian, adding that journalists and passersby were killed when the offices of two newspapers were hit.
In the early hours of Thursday, the Israeli military said it had intercepted a missile launched from Yemen. The Houthis did not comment on the launch, but one of the group's leaders had vowed to respond to the Israeli strikes "with all our might".
Last month, an Israeli strike in Sanaa killed the prime minister of the Houthi-run government, Ahmed al-Rahawi, and several ministers.
Videos posted online on Wednesday afternoon showed plumes of black smoke rising from the sites of several explosions in Sanaa, and first responders searching through the rubble of damaged buildings.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced in a statement that aircraft had struck an unspecified number of military targets in the capital and in al-Jawf, including military camps, a fuel storage facility and what it called the Houthis' "public relations department".
It said the department was "responsible for distributing and disseminating propaganda messages in the media, including speeches of the Houthi leader Abdul Malik [al-Houthi] and the spokesman Yahya Sarea's statements". The military camps had been used to plan attacks on Israel, it added.
Those attacks have involved the launch of hundreds of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and surface-to-surface missiles towards Israeli territory over almost two years. Most have been intercepted, but one drone hit an airport in southern Israel on Sunday, wounding one person.
Russia slams Israeli
strikes on Qatar
Moscow on Wednesday blasted Israel for a strike on Hamas leaders in Qatar, saying it undermined peace efforts in the Middle East.
"Russia considers the incident a grave violation of international law... an encroachment on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of an independent state, and a step leading to further escalation," the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Later Wednesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held a phone call with his Qatari counterpart Mohammed Al Thani in which he "reaffirmed his firm condemnation of this aggressive action".
In the call he slammed "the grave danger which Israel's actions represent", which Lavrov said "were leading to a new destabilisation of the situation in the Middle East".
