The Saudi-led Arab coalition said on Sunday its air strikes had killed more than 260 Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen in the past three days. The deaths are the latest among roughly 1,600 Houthis the coalition claims it has killed in strikes over the past two weeks around Marib. "Thirty-six military vehicles were destroyed and more than 264" rebel fighters were killed in the past 72 hours, the coalition said, quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency. The strikes were carried out in Al-Jawba, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Marib, and Al-Kassara, 30 kilometers to the northwest. The UN Security Council called on Wednesday for "de-escalation" in Yemen, in a unanimously adopted statement to counter the risk of "large-scale famine" in the country. The 15 council members demanded an immediate nationwide ceasefire, and sought an end to the Marib escalation. Saudi Arabia had proposed a ceasefire initiative early in the year but the Houthis have repeatedly ignored calls for calm and peace. "The members of the Security Council expressed grave concern for the dire humanitarian situation, including prolonged starvation and the growing risk of large-scale famine," said the Security Council statement. They also "condemned the recruitment and use of children, and sexual violence, in conflict". The UN children’s agency UNICEF last week said that seven years of conflict in Yemen had killed or wounded at least 10,000 children. The figure only included child victims whose fates were known to the organization, and there were countless others, UNICEF spokesman James Elder said in Geneva. "The war must come to an end," he said.