Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis launched ballistic missiles and drones at displacement camps and residential neighbourhoods in the city of Marib on Friday, killing two people and wounding 14, state news agency SABA reported, citing local authorities.
Yemen’s army said early on Saturday it had responded against Houthi forces on several fronts. The army did not give details of the operations or say when they took place but said it would respond to any further targeting of its units with what it called necessary military measures.
The exchanges mark a sharp escalation between the Houthis and forces of Yemen’s internationally recognised government after years in which large-scale fighting between the two sides had largely subsided, raising fears of a return to a broader conflict.
With the US-Israeli war on Iran expanding to much of the region, a senior Saudi official said on Thursday that Riyadh expected imminent coordinated attacks from Yemen’s Houthis as well as Iraqi militias under the supervision of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Iran and its allies in Yemen and Iraq have not responded to the Saudi claim.
The Houthis said on Friday they had targeted Saudi-backed forces, depots, vehicles and military equipment at Yemen’s Sahn al-Jinn camp in Marib with missiles and drones. Reuters could not independently verify the claims by either side.
