Houthi attacks kill at least 10 in Yemen's oil-rich Marib province
Iran-backed Houthi rebels escalated strikes on Yemen's oil-rich Marib province on Friday, killing at least 10 people a day after their deadliest attack on government forces in years. The violence has raised fears of a return to full-scale war in a country where a 2022 truce had largely held.
Houthi rebel attacks in Yemen's Marib province killed at least 10 people on Friday, according to a government minister and a military source, as fighting intensified a day after the rebels' deadliest assault in years.
A Yemeni military source told AFP that eight members of Saudi-backed government forces were killed and 12 wounded in the attacks. Separately, the government's health minister, Qasim Buhaibeh, said on social media that Houthi shelling had struck residential neighborhoods and displacement camps in Marib city, killing at least two civilians and injuring 14 others.
The military source said the Houthis fired more than 10 missiles and seven one-way attack drones at military camps in the province. The Iran-backed group later claimed responsibility for an attack on a government-held camp at Sahn al-Jinn, saying it had struck forces, vehicles and equipment there.
Coalition warns of 'red line'
A source close to the Saudi military told AFP that the Saudi-led coalition, which has backed the Yemeni government since 2015, would not stand by idly as Houthi attacks intensify, describing Marib as a "red line." The source said the coalition does not want further escalation but would not allow the balance of power on the ground to shift, adding that Riyadh believed the rebels were preparing an offensive to seize the province.
Marib is currently split between Houthi and government forces, with the government controlling the provincial capital and the area's oil fields. The Houthis launched an offensive to capture the province in 2021, but fighting largely stopped after a nationwide truce took hold in 2022.
Thursday's Houthi missile and drone attacks killed at least 58 government troops, mostly in Marib, marking one of the deadliest clashes between the two sides in years. Yemen, gripped by more than a decade of war, was drawn last month into the wider US-Iran conflict after the Houthis let an Iranian plane land in Sanaa, breaking the 2022 truce and triggering a series of retaliatory strikes as well as a Houthi-declared maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia.
