Saudi airstrike kills 70 at Houthi run prison in Yemen, days after rebels attack UAE capital

An airstrike on a Yemen prison facility on Friday reportedly killed at least 70 people and injured close to 140. 

The prison, which was run by Houthi rebel forces, was hit during an aerial offensive that took the country's internet offline earlier in the day, a Yemini rebel minister told the Associated Press.

The aerial strike comes days after an Iranian-backed Houthi drone and missile attack struck the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The back-and-forth this week marks a major escalation in the ongoing civil war in Yemen being fought between a Saudi-led coalition with backing from the UAE, and the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. 

Ahmed Mahat, the head of MSF International's mission in Yemen, said the prison hit has left a neighboring hospital so overwhelmed that aides are unable to accept anymore patients.

"From what I hear from my colleague in Sa’ada, there are many bodies still at the scene of the air strike, many missing people," Mahat tweeted. "It is impossible to know how many people have been killed. It seems to have been a horrific act of violence."

At least 100,000 people have been killed since the beginning of the bloody civil war in 2015.