Fighting escalates in Yemen; Houthi attacks trigger alerts in Saudi Arabia

Fighting has escalated across Yemen, with the country’s internationally recognised government claiming the Houthis killed three children in an artillery attack, while Saudi Arabia accused the Iran-backed group of continuing to target the kingdom’s infrastructure. The claims came as warnings of impending attacks sounded in several Saudi provinces early on Thursday, with the Houthis promising to respond after accusing Riyadh of launching 54 air strikes over 12 hours. The renewed hostilities between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government forces are unfolding amid intensifying regional tensions set off by the United States and Israel’s war on Iran.

Pakistan warned on Tuesday that continued Houthi attacks could trigger the recently signed Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, a mutual security pact involving Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan. Iran, meanwhile, has rejected criticism from the Arab League that it is interfering in Yemen, insisting that the Houthis act independently. According to the World Health Organization, the clashes have killed or wounded more than 1,000 people since August 24 and displaced tens of thousands.

On Wednesday, the government-run Saba news reported that at least three children, including a baby, were killed in Houthi shelling in the central Marib governorate. Six others were also wounded in the attack, which Saba said was the second of its kind in 48 hours. The first assault killed two children and wounded 15 others, it said.

The Houthis, for their part, said the death toll from an attack on a prison in the northern al-Jawf governorate had climbed to at least 32 people. Some seven others were wounded in the attack on Tuesday, they said. Yemen has been mired in conflict since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa.

The attack prompted a Saudi-led military intervention the following year and a devastating conflict that killed an estimated 150,000 people. A United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 brought a halt to large-scale fighting, but clashes resumed again in July following a strike on the Houthi-held Sanaa airport. The Houthis last week launched a major offensive in Hodeidah and Taiz provinces aimed at advancing towards the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a critical maritime waterway for Saudi oil exports.

That offensive prompted government-aligned forces to mount counterattacks and expand operations elsewhere in the country, including in the al-Jawf governorate, considered a gateway to Sanaa. The fighting has also spilled over into Saudi Arabia. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, Major General Turki al-Maliki, said on Wednesday the Houthis were “persisting” in attacks on the kingdom’s assets and infrastructure, adding that the rebels had targeted Khamis Mushait, Abha and Jazan using ballistic missiles and drones.