Smoke rises during an air strike on an army weapons depot on a mountain overlooking Yemen's capital Sanaa September 5, 2015. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

By Mohammed Ghobari

SANAA (Reuters) - Warplanes from the United Arab Emirates struck Houthi targets across Yemen, state news agency WAM said on Saturday, a day after at least 60 soldiers from a Saudi-led coalition, mostly Emiratis, were killed in an attack in central Yemen.

Medical sources at hospitals in the capital Sanaa, which has been under effective control of the Iranian-allied Houthi militia for almost a year, said about 24 civilians were killed in the city as a result of the attacks.

WAM said the UAE air force struck a mine-making plant in the Houthi-dominated Saada province in northern Yemen, as well as military camps and weapon stores in the central Ibb province, causing "heavy damage".

Apart from 45 Emiratis and five Bahrainis, Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya TV reported on Saturday that 10 Saudi soldiers were also killed in the attack in Marib province on Friday, quoting Brigadier-General Ahmed al-Asiri, the coalition spokesman.

Asiri told Al Arabiya TV that four Yemeni soldiers were also killed in the attack on the coalition base in Marib.

Friday's death toll was the highest for the coalition since it began its assault on the Houthis in March, and is one of the worst losses of life in the history of the UAE military.

The UAE has played a key role in a Saudi-led Arab coalition fighting the Houthis after they pushed Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile and took over much of the country.

UAE forces assisted fighters loyal to Hadi in driving out Houthis and their allies from the southern port city of Aden, in a key victory for the coalition.

In Aden, a government official said the police resumed their duties on Saturday with the help of the UAE after their work was suspended for more than five months due to the war.

In Sanaa, residents said the Houthi-controled Defence Ministry building and the command of the special security forces were among the targets hit in further strikes by Saudi-led forces overnight.

The bodies of the Emirati soldiers killed in the attack on their base in Marib were taken to Abu Dhabi aboard an air force transport plane. Funerals were being held on Saturday. The UAE government has announced a three-day mourning period.

Bahraini officials said the five soldiers killed in the attack were also being buried on Saturday.

UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Al Arabiya that the troops were killed when a surface-to-surface missile struck a weapons storage facility at the Marib base.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE have reported several deaths of soldiers in Yemen since March, but the total death toll for the coalition was not clear.

"HORRIFIC EXPLOSIONS"

More than 4,000 Yemenis have died in the same period.

Abu Dhabi shares Riyadh's view that the Houthis are proxies of Shi'ite power Iran, accusing it of trying to expand its influence in Arab lands in Yemen, Syria and Iraq. The Houthis, who belong to the Zaydi branch of Shi'ite Islam, deny acting on behalf of Tehran and say they revolted against corruption.

Hadi loyalists, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, had been massing troops and weapons in Marib in preparation for an assault on the capital, which the Houthis seized in September last year.

"The incident itself does not change the balance that is there," Gargash said in an interview with Al Arabiya TV. "Marib will fall to the coalition," he added.

Residents in Sanaa fear the coalition will step up its raids even further to retaliate for the attack.

"I was close to the raid that hit the command of the special security forces, the explosions were horrific, I felt that the ground was shaking beneath me and people were running away out of fear," said Shawqi, a taxi driver.

(Additional reporting by Ahmed Tolba and Reem Shamseddine; Editing by Sami Aboudi, William Maclean and Raissa Kasolowsky)

Washington (AFP) - The United States expressed concern to Moscow on Saturday about what it called reports of an imminent and enhanced Russian military buildup in war-torn Syria.

Washington made its views known in a telephone call from Secretary of State John Kerry to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, the State Department said.

"The secretary made clear that if such reports were accurate, these actions could further escalate the conflict, lead to greater loss of innocent life, increase refugee flows and risk confrontation with the anti-ISIL coalition operating in Syria," the State Department said.

In his call with Lavrov, Kerry discussed "US concerns about reports suggesting an imminent enhanced Russian buildup there," the department said.

"The two agreed that discussions on the Syrian conflict would continue in New York later this month," it said.

The New York Times reported that Russia has sent a military advance team to ally Syria and was taking other steps that Washington fears may signal plans to vastly expand its military support for President Bashar al-Assad.

View gallery

Syrians walk amid the rubble of destroyed buildings following reported air strikes by regime forces …

The Times said the moves included the recent transport of prefabricated housing units for hundreds of people to a Syrian airfield and the delivery of a portable air traffic control station there.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin was asked Friday whether Russia was taking part in military operations against the Islamic State group in Syria.

"We are looking at various options but so far what you are talking about is not on the agenda," he said.

"To say we're ready to do this today -- so far it's premature to talk about this. But we are already giving Syria quite serious help with equipment and training soldiers, with our weapons," RIA Novosti state news agency quoted Putin as saying.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said Saturday's telephone call was made at Kerry's initiative.

It made no mention of US concerns about a possible Russian military buildup, but said the two men discussed "different aspects of the situation in Syria and its environs, as well as the objectives of the fight against IS and other terrorist groups."

The foreign ministry said they spoke of "cooperation" between Moscow and Washington to "support UN efforts aimed at launching a political process in Syria."

Lavrov and Kerry agreed to remain in close contact in pursuing a settlement of the Syrian conflict, which has claimed more than 240,000 lives since March 2011 and driven millions more from their homes.

- Flurry of diplomacy -

In recent weeks, there has been a flurry of diplomatic consultations to try to find a way out of the crisis, including an unprecedented meeting in Doha on August 3 between the top US, Russian and Saudi diplomats.

The Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers were later received separately in Moscow, as were representatives of various more moderate Syrian opposition groups.

Moscow, which has been a bulwark of military and diplomatic support to the Assad regime, is promoting an expanded coalition against IS that includes countries of the region as well as the regular Syrian army.

President Barack Obama for his part received Saudi King Salman on Friday for talks dominated by Syria. They advocate a political solution that would include Assad's departure from power.

U.S. to Russia: Military buildup in Syria concerning

A military advance team may signal plans to expand support for Syrian President al-Assad.
'Could further escalate the conflict'