RIYADH: The Arab coalition destroyed a ballistic missile launch pad and a warehouse used to build drones in Yemen’s capital, Al Ekhbariya reported on Saturday. The coalition has carried out multiple sorties in the past few weeks to hamper Houthi militia operations in and around Sanaa. The launch pad destruction in southern Sanaa also killed experts, the coalition said, adding that a mine-making and drone-assembly workshop was also destroyed. The coalition said they took the necessary precautions to safeguard civilian life during the operations. The near daily attacks by the militia on Saudi civilian infrastructure using drones has reduced considerably as the coalition has gone after specific targets behind the persistent attacks. Experts belonging to Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard have been killed by the coalition airstrikes in recent weeks. The Yemeni government is engaged in a fierce resistance in the governorate of Marib, a resource-rich region coveted by the Iran-backed group. On Thursday, the coalition said it carried out nine operations against militia targets in Marib in the past 24 hours, killing 45 fighters and destroying six military vehicles. Government forces also liberated a large swathe of land in the southern governorate of Shabwa on Thursday. Backed by air cover from the Arab coalition, government troops pushed deeper into Houthi-controlled Bayhan and Ousylan districts, expelling militia fighters from wide areas and taking control of a strategic road that connects the two districts, a military official told Arab News on Thursday. The Arab coalition has been fighting the Iran-backed Houthis, after the militia seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014. In March, Saudi Arabia announced a roadmap called the Riyadh Initiative to halt fighting in Yemen and reopen Sanaa airport, as well as continuing talks to find a solution to the conflict. The proposal was seen as a welcome step internationally, but has been rejected by Houthi leadership. The war, which has now lasted for seven years, has cost thousands of Yemenis their lives and has forced many more to depend on humanitarian assistance. Saudi relief agency, KSrelief, has poured billions of dollars worth of aid into Yemen and has hundreds of projects focusing on food and health. In July, The World Food Programme welcomed Saudi contributions to the fund saying humanitarian action in Yemen could not be sustained without it.