air strikes at the airport and my home and children are near the airport, and I have asked God to protect them and stayed in Haradh for these numerous, weak refugees, may God have mercy on them.”



Aid workers say that hundreds of families have now fled to nearby valleys and hills in fear, sleeping in the open.

It was unclear why the camp was targeted. One humanitarian worker who asked not to be named said an initial investigation indicated that the air strike had targeted an armed convoy that was driving on the nearby road, and that one of the vehicles in the convoy then fled the scene into the camp, where it was bombed.

His account cannot be verified. Saudi Arabia’s military spokesman told Reuters he could not confirma camp had been hit, but said jets might have returned fire on anti-aircraft weapons placed in civilian areas. Yemen’s foreign minister, Riyadh Yassin, blamed Houthis for the explosion.

Yemeni activists told the Guardian that many military camps are located near residential areas, a deliberate choice by Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was president of Yemen until 2012. Some of the Houthi rebels have also installed anti-aircraft weapons on top of residential buildings or near residential areas.

“You can’t talk about separation between military and civilian targets,” said one Sana’a-based activist.

He cited the bombing in Sana’a of a weapons depot on Monday night in Faj Attan, near a residential district, where the explosions from the bombing carried on for a long time after the air strike, sending shrapnel at nearby homes.

The