Yemeni government forces accused the Houthi movement of launching ballistic missile attacks on the Red Sea port city of al-Makha and residential areas in the central city of Marib on Monday, a significant escalation in the country's civil war. Officials did not release casualty figures for the Monday strikes.
The assaults followed Houthi missile strikes on al-Makha a day earlier that killed at least seven people and injured 30 others. Sunday's attacks caused extensive damage to the city's port area.
Separately on Monday, a Houthi drone strike in the south-central province of Shabwa killed two Yemeni government soldiers and wounded seven others.
Yemeni forces struck back at Houthi positions in eastern al-Jawf province, northwestern Saada province and the al-Tibas area of central Marib province, according to statements posted on X.
The renewed fighting marks the deadliest period in years for Yemen's civil war, driven by a broader regional confrontation stemming from a war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on Feb. 28.
The conflict in Yemen began in September 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
The protracted civil war, which has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, had largely settled into a stalemate until a U.N.-brokered truce in April 2022 halted major fighting across the country.
The truce collapsed on July 13 after a Saudi airstrike on the runway of Sanaa airport prevented an Iranian flight carrying a senior Houthi delegation from landing.
In response, the Houthis attacked Abha airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia, announced a blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea and have since targeted Saudi vessels and oil facilities inside the kingdom, disrupting global trade.
The Saudi-led coalition retaliated with strikes on Houthi-controlled Hodeidah and Kamaran, Yemen's largest Red Sea island, and reinforced Yemeni troops along front lines ahead of a potential ground offensive against Houthi positions.
U.N. envoy Hans Grundberg said Friday that Yemen faces a greater risk of large-scale conflict than at any point since the April 2022 truce, warning that the escalation jeopardizes the gains made under that agreement and risks drawing Yemen into a wider regional war with severe consequences for its population.
