TEHRAN, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Iran on Thursday strongly condemned a recent Saudi-led airstrike "on a bus that killed dozens of Yemenis," Press TV reported.

In a statement, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasemi urged the international community to put pressure on Riyadh and its allies to stop what it called "more crimes in the impoverished country" of Yemen.

Qasemi expressed sympathy with the families of the victims in the Saudi-led coalition airstrike.

The head of Yemen's Saada Health Office, Yahya Shayem, told Xinhua that at least 43 people were killed earlier Thursday as the Saudi-led coalition airstrike hit a bus "carrying school pupils on their way to attend a summer school in Dhahyan."

Saudi Arabia has been leading an Arab coalition to fight the Houthi rebels, who control Yemen's north, with airstrikes in the last three years, while the Houthi militias often respond with launching missiles at Saudi border cities.

The Saudi-led coalition on Thursday defended the airstrike as a "legitimate" response to a deadly Houthi attack on the Saudi border city Jazan.

The coalition targeted the militants who planned and carried out the attack against Jazan on Wednesday, coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki was quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency as saying.