Yemen’s Houthi fighters have claimed the killing of at least eight Saudi soldiers, Al Jazeera reports.
Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Iran-aligned group, said late on Sunday that fighters attacked the Tadawin camp in the Marib governorate, where Saudi forces are stationed with a ballistic missile. There has been no comment from Saudi Arabia on the attack in Marib but its media reported the death of a lieutenant colonel without specifying the circumstances and location of his death.
Yemen has been beset by violence since 2014, when the Houthis overran much of the country, including the capital Sanaa. The crisis escalated in 2015 as a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.
Yemen is facing “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis” according to the UN, and many people do not have the essentials they need to survive such as food and water. The UN children’s agency UNICEF has said that millions of children’s lives are at “high risk” as the country moves closer to famine.
On Sunday, pro-government forces said at least seven civilians had been killed in a shelling attack by the Houthis in the western coastal province of Hodeidah. According to Yemen’s army brigade al-Amalika, 10 others were injured in the attack in a village south of the coastal city of the same name.
The Houthi rebels have not yet commented on the attack.
Hodeidah is the main entry point for Yemen’s commercial imports and aid. The UN has called on Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the Houthi group to exercise restraint and stop the escalation in Hodeidah.
Confrontations between the forces of the two sides escalated in several areas of the governorate during the past several days, amid accusations of escalation.
“During the past week, air strikes, the use of improvised explosive devices and ground attacks were reported,” said the head of the UN mission in Hodeidah, Abhijit Goha, adding that the reports of civilian casualties, including children, are particularly disturbing.