Sanaa, January 18 (RHC)-- Saudi warplanes have launched ferocious air raids on Sana'a and other cities after Yemen carried out airstrikes against strategic facilities in the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for its role in the protracted war on the country.

The air raids targeted Libby neighborhood in Ma'een district of Sana’a late Monday, leaving at least 12 citizens dead and 11 others injured, Yemen's al-Masirah television reported,  The network’s correspondent in Sana'a said search for survivors under the rubble of a house continued in Libby, where five other residential houses were also damaged in the airstrikes.   The Saudi airplanes also targeted September 11 Park in northern Sana’a.

Al-Masirah said the kingdom had carried out more than 50 air raids on several areas across Yemen, including the central Ma'rib province, over the past 24 hours.  “The coalition’s warplanes waged 31 raids on al-Wadi, al-Jubah and Harib districts of Ma’rib province, while eight airstrikes hit Ain district of Shabwa province and seven other targeted Sawma'ah district of al-Bayda province,” the network said.

Two air raids hit al-Yatama area in the Khab Washa'f district of the northern Jawf province, and two others targeted Magbanah district in the southwestern province of Ta'izz.  Saudi-led coalition aircraft also attacked al-Jarrahi district in the south of the Red Sea port city of Hudaydah and launched another raid on Haradh district in the northern province of Hajjah.

Earlier in the day, the Yemeni army launched an operation deep inside the United Arab Emirates in retaliation for its role in the Saudi-led war on the impoverished country.  Abu Dhabi police said three fuel tanker trucks had exploded in the industrial Musaffah area, near the storage facilities of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), and that a fire had also broken out at a construction site at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

At least three people were killed and six others wounded in the attack, according to Emirati authorities.   Spokesman for the Yemeni Armed Forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree confirmed the retaliatory attack and said Yemeni troops had launched the military operation “deep inside the UAE.”