SANAA, Yemen

The Saudi Arabian-led Arab coalition in Yemen announced Tuesday that it killed 130 Houthi militants in military operations in the past 24 hours.

But the Houthi rebel group said only 12 of its fighters were killed.

"We carried out 27 targeting operations to vehicles and militants of the Houthi militia in the provinces of Marib and al-Bayda (central Yemen) during the past 24 hours," the Kingdom’s official SPA news agency cited a statement by the coalition.

Operations "destroyed 16 military vehicles and eliminated 130 Houthi terrorist militants" and it “carried out four operations in Yemen’s western coast to support the coastal forces and protect civilians.”

The Houthi-run Saba news agency quoted an unnamed security source who said, “12 of its fighters, most of them were holding officer ranks, were killed by coalition warplanes."

“The fighters were killed on a number of fronts and were buried in the capital Sanaa,” the source said.

Since February, the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels have stepped up attacks to take control of oil-rich Marib province, one of the most important strongholds of the legitimate government and home to the headquarters of Yemen’s Defense Ministry.

Yemen has been engulfed by violence and instability since 2014, when Houthi rebels captured much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa.

A Saudi-led coalition aimed at reinstating the Yemeni government has worsened the situation and caused one of the world’s worst man-made humanitarian crises, with 233,000 people killed, nearly 80%, or about 30 million needing humanitarian assistance and protection and more than 13 million in danger of starvation, according to UN estimates.

* Writing by Bassel Barakat in Ankara