DOHA

 A Saudi-led coalition on Monday accused Yemen's Shiite Houthi group of storing arms in schools and hospitals.

"We have information that arms and equipment stored under schools, hotels and houses are equal in amount to those already destroyed," coalition spokesman Ahmed al-Asiri said at a daily press briefing in Saudi capital Riyadh.

He said coalition warplanes had targeted playgrounds in the southern city of Aden and the western city of Ibb because a large amount of arms was stored inside them.

Al-Asiri said the Saudi-led Arab coalition forces were keen on protecting Yemen's infrastructure and preventing the Houthis from exploiting the country's infrastructure.

Since March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies have been pounding Houthi positions across Yemen.

Riyadh says its anti-Houthi campaign comes in response to appeals by embattled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi to "save the [Yemeni] people from the Houthi militias."

The Houthis, for their part, denounce the offensive as an unwarranted "Saudi-American onslaught" on Yemen.

Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence to other parts of the fractious country.

Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen's Houthi insurgency.