Saudi-led coalition air strike kills nine civilians fleeing Hodeidah: Reports

A Saudi-led coalition air strike in Hodeidah killed nine people on Tuesday after it struck a bus full of displaced people fleeing the war-torn city, according to reports from pro-Houthi media outlets.

Both Press TV and Yemen Press Agency reported that almost a dozen others were injured after the attack on a road between the embattled port city and the southwestern city of Taiz.

The Saudi-led coalition could not be reached immediately for comment.

The unconfirmed reports of the attack comes after Yemeni security officials told the Associated Press that they feared for the safety of a convoy of 50 vehicles which left for Taiz with hundreds of displaced people on Monday.

Thousands of families have been forced to leave their homes in the surrounding provinces after the Saudi-led coalition launched an assault to take Hodeida from the Houthis earlier this month.

Strikes on Amran 

The apparent bus attack follows two Saudi-led coalition air strikes killing at least eight members of the same family in Yemen's northwestern Amran province on Monday. 

Images posted online claimed that several children were among those killed in Amran. 

The Saudi-led coalition has not confirmed that it was responsible for the air strikes.

Hezbollah fighters killed in Saada 

The coalition, however, released a statement that it had killed eight members of Hezbollah during military operations in the country's Saada province on Monday.

Hezbollah has previously denied Saudi accusations that the group is helping the Houthis in the Yemen conflict, which has become a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The coalition said in a statement that 41 “terrorist elements” had been targeted during the operations. 

Aid groups fear continued fighting will lead to the shutdown of the port and potentially push millions into starvation. 

Approximately 70 percent of Yemen's food enters via the port, alongside humanitarian aid and fuel supplies.