Yemen commander praises Saudi Arabia after civilians die in Sanaa airstrike

General Nasser al-Dhaybani told Sky News that the airstrikes being conducted by the Saudi-led coalition are “excellent” and “helpful” with assisting local anti-Houthi forces and pro-government troops with their mission to edge closer to the capital city Sanaa.

But at least 60 percent of the victims of the airstrikes, which have been subject to global outrage, are civilians.

A Saudi-led coalition in Yemen killed eight people when an airstrike hit a police building in the capital city Sanaa, the Houthi rebels said on Sunday. Sanaa was taken over by the Houthis in a coup in September 2014 and its recapture is the focal point of the Yemen conflict.

In a statement by their military media unit, the rebels said that a child was killed in the Sunday attack that badly damaged a department of records building and wounded some 58 people.

Security officials and witnesses said many of the dead were civilians, speaking on condition of anonymity because they feared retribution.

More than 10,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the Yemeni government's war against rebels in 2015.

A severe outbreak of cholera has left 2,000 dead and one million infected, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Yemen is today split in two, with the Houthi camp controlling the north and coalition-backed pro-government forces in the south.