Local tribesmen say airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthi rebels have killed 22 people, including children, in the country's north.

The Health Ministry affiliated with the Houthis confirmed the deaths on Monday, saying that all those killed were from two families from the Maghrabet Talan district in Hajjah province.

The tribesmen spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

For almost two months, the Houthis have been besieging and shelling the mountainous area of Kusher to suppress a rebellion there by the Hajor tribes. Scores of civilians have been killed and wounded.

Yemen has since March 2015 been embroiled in a civil war pitting the Iran-backed Houthis against a Saudi-led coalition fighting alongside the exiled internationally recognized government.