Sanaa, September 1 (RHC)-- Saudi Arabia has carried out new air raids on Yemen’s western Dhamar Province, killing more than 40 people and wounding 30 others.  The al-Masirah TV channel reported on Sunday that warplanes belonging to the Saudi-led coalition had pounded a jail where prisoners of war were being kept.

Head of Yemen’s National Committee for Prisoners Affairs Abdul Qader al-Mortada said that the targeted prison housed over 170 prisoners of war, most of whom were supposed to be part of a local exchange deal.

The Saudi-led coalition claimed in a statement on Sunday that its aerial assaults on Dhamar had targeted a military site belonging to the Houthi Ansarullah movement.  It alleged that Houthi fighters had stored drones and air defense systems at the site, and claimed the strikes were “in accordance with international humanitarian law.”

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched a deadly war on Yemen in March 2015 in an attempt to reinstall a former regime and eliminate the Houthis, who have been defending the country along with armed forces.

The Western-backed military aggression, coupled with a naval blockade, has destroyed the country’s infrastructure, and led to a massive humanitarian crisis.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 91,000 over the past four and a half years.