70 killed as Houthi rebels launch air strike on Yemen prison

 At least 70 people were killed in a Houthi air strike on a prison as Yemen's long-running conflict suffered a dramatic escalation on Friday.

At least 70 people were killed in an air strike on a prison as Yemen's long-running conflict suffered a dramatic escalation Friday that drew condemnation from UN chief Antonio Guterres.

The Houthi rebels released gruesome video footage showing bodies in the rubble and mangled corpses from the attack, which levelled buildings at the prison in their northern heartland of Saada.

"The children were reportedly playing on a nearby football field when missiles struck," Save the Children said.

They said the prison in Saada was used as a holding centre for migrants, who made up many of the casualties.

They came as the UN Security Council met to discuss that attack at the UAE's request.

"The United States calls on all parties to the conflict to de-escalate, abide by their obligations under international humanitarian law, and participate fully in an inclusive UN-led peace process," he said in a statement Friday.

The Security Council unanimously condemned the "heinous terrorist attacks" by the Yemeni rebels, but in a statement before the meeting the council's Norwegian presidency also strongly condemned the latest violence.

In a later statement, the UN said Guterres "reminds all parties that attacks directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure are prohibited by international humanitarian law."

Two other hospitals have received "many wounded" and as night fell, the rubble was still being searched, the aid agency said. 

Ahmed Mahat, Doctors Without Borders' head of mission in Yemen, said: "There are many bodies still at the scene of the air strike, many missing people."

The coalition claimed the attack in Hodeida, a lifeline port for the shattered country, but did not say it had carried out any strikes on Saada.

It said Saudi air defences destroyed a missile fired from Saada on Friday towards Khamis Mushait, site of a major Saudi air base.

AFP correspondents in Hodeida and Sanaa confirmed the outage. Save the Children said it would hamper its operating capacity.

Tensions have soared in recent weeks after the UAE-backed Giants Brigade drove the rebels out of Shabwa province, undermining their months-long campaign to take the key city of Marib further north.

And on Monday, they claimed a long-range attack that struck oil facilities and the airport in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi, killing two Indians and a Pakistani, and wounding six other people.

In retaliation, the coalition carried out air strikes against rebel-held Sanaa that killed 14 people.

The UN has estimated the war killed 377,000 people by the end of 2021, both directly and indirectly through hunger and disease.