CAIRO — More than 70 individuals were injured in a series of Houthi strikes targeting Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, according to officials. This represents a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between the crucial U.S. ally and the Iranian-supported insurgents in Yemen.
The strikes occurred after weeks of intensifying clashes between Houthi fighters and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen, which destroyed a four-year truce in the nation’s civil war.
Combat has escalated across multiple fronts, including Yemen’s western coast, where government forces report territorial advances in the provinces of Hodeida, Taiz, and Baydah. The Houthis have additionally launched attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure and vessels navigating the Red Sea.
Early on Tuesday, the strikes targeted “civilian and economic facilities” in the Saudi cities of Jazan, Najran, and Khamis Mushait, stated Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition engaged in Yemen.
Al-Malki confirmed that the attacks wounded 73 individuals, including women and children, though he did not provide a detailed breakdown or additional specifics.
He characterized the strikes as a “serious escalation” and a “flagrant violation of the kingdom’s sovereignty, posing a direct threat to the security and safety of its citizens and residents.”
Al-Malki pledged retaliation, asserting that the Saudi-led coalition “will take all necessary operational measures to deter the terrorist Houthi militia with utmost resolve.”
The Houthis did not immediately respond to the allegations.
The attacks came just hours after the rebels attributed airstrikes on a prison in Yemen’s northern Jawf province to Saudi Arabia. The Houthis stated that the strike on the city of Hazem killed at least seven people, including a child, and injured seven others.
Yemen’s civil war commenced in 2014 when the Houthis captured the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north, forcing the government into exile.
A Saudi-led coalition, which included the United Arab Emirates, intervened the subsequent year in an effort to restore the government to power.
Tensions escalated earlier this year between the U.S. allies, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as their partnership in the Yemeni war collapsed, resulting in the UAE’s withdrawal from the conflict.
According to United Nations estimates, the Yemeni civil war has claimed the lives of at least 150,000 people and has at times brought the country to the brink of famine.
