Sanaa, Yemen: At least 13 civilians were killed in Saudi air strikes against Huthi rebels in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, a civil defence source said Thursday.

‘Thirteen civilians, including women and children, were killed in the Saudi raids overnight,’ the source told AFP. Witnesses said residents were helping civil defence officials to search for any more victims under the rubble of seven houses damaged in the raids.

The homes are located in a neighbourhood adjacent to the international airport and an air base targeted in the raids, said local residents.

Saudi Arabia launched a military operation overnight in Yemen by a regional coalition to defend the government of embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as the country teeters on the brink of civil war.

Military sources said the raids had hit rebel positions at various locations in Sanaa, including at al-Daylami airbase and the adjacent international airport in the north of the city, as well as the presidential complex seized by the rebels in January.

Yemen has been gripped by growing turmoil since the Shiite Huthi rebels launched a power grab in February.

The offensive came after the Huthi rebels threatened Yemen's second city of Aden, where Hadi has taken refuge after fleeing Sanaa.