JEDDAH: The Arab coalition in Yemen launched an attack Monday on Houthi military targets in Sanaa.

The coalition advised civilians to stay away from the targeted areas, Saudi Arabia’s Al Ekhbariya TV channel said.

A report by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) quoted Col. Turki Al-Maliki, coalition spokesman, as saying the Joint Forces Command carried out at past 10 p.m. a specific military operation "to destroy a number of caves used by the Houthi terrorist militia to store ballistic missiles, drones as well as weapons."

The caves are located in Faj Atan and Al-A'amd camp in the capital Sana'a, he said.

Al-Maliki stressed that the targeting process "is in accordance with international humanitarian law and customary rules, and that the command of the joint forces of the coalition took all preventive measures and measures to protect civilians from any collateral damage."

The strikes happened hours after the coalition accused the Houthis of endangering global energy security when they attacked a Saudi Aramco plant on Saturday.

Houthi militants claimed they used a number of drones to hit the Shaybah gas facility, but Saudi Arabia said operations were unaffected and no one was injured. 

The attack by the Iran-backed Houthis was the latest using drones laden with explosives to target the Kingdom’s infrastructure.

The militants, who sparked the Yemen conflict in 2014 by seizing Sanaa from the internationally-recognized government, have targeted oil pipeline infrastructure and Abha airport in the south.