More clashes were reported in Yemen on Saturday between the Iran-backed Houthi militia and Saudi-backed government forces, as aid agencies warned that the civilian toll from the intensifying conflict was worsening across several fronts.
Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said that government forces had destroyed two ballistic missile launchpads in Saada Province, a Houthi stronghold in the north of the country. The coalition’s air defenses had also intercepted ballistic missiles and drones fired toward Riyadh, the Saudi capital, and Yanbu, a Saudi city on the Red Sea coast.
In the city of Aden, the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government that is backed by Saudi Arabia, two Houthi missiles landed inside the international airport late Friday as a passenger jet prepared for takeoff, according to Moammar al-Eryani, the Yemeni information minister.
The latest clashes came after the World Health Organization said this week that at least 2,007 people have been killed or wounded in Yemen between Oct. 3 and Oct. 11, a doubling of the recent average daily casualty toll. Since the fighting escalated in early August, at least 1,282 deaths have been reported in Yemen.
Fighting in Yemen is taking place on several fronts, including Yemen’s Red Sea coast, near the government-controlled city of Taiz, and in the provinces of Marib and Jawf, east of the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa.
The humanitarian toll has been sharpest in Taiz, which sits at a strategic crossroads between government-controlled territory and the Red Sea coast. Gaining control of the city, the country’s third largest, would allow the Houthis to increase pressure on government forces in the south.
Houthi forces have pushed into the mountains surrounding Taiz, establishing positions that allow them to monitor roads and troop movements. The Houthi military last week called on government units in Taiz to surrender and accused them of using the city’s residents as “human shields,” in a statement carried by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency.
The W.H.O. said the city was being cut off from the outside world, warning that many hospitals were running out of essential medicines and fuel.
The war has displaced more than 200,000 people in Yemen since August, and more than half of them are being hosted in Taiz, according to the International Organization for Migration. The World Food Program said it could no longer reach roughly 600,000 people in and around the city because of the fighting and blocked roads.
The Houthis have also launched major attacks inside Saudi Arabia. Last week, missiles struck the main international airport in Riyadh in the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade. The airport remains closed.
The strikes have cast a shadow over the ambitions of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, to transform the kingdom’s economy and turn it into a global commercial and tourism hub. For years, the country has hosted international sporting and business events as part of those efforts, but the attacks have forced the authorities to cancel or postpone many of high-profile tournaments and conferences in recent weeks.
The war between the Houthis and the Saudi-backed government forces began in 2014, when the militia seized Sanaa. A truce was reached in 2022 but came under pressure this summer, when the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing the airport in Sanaa. The cease-fire collapsed entirely last month, when Houthi fighters took control of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and declared a blockade on Saudi shipping.
The U.N. Security Council on Friday condemned the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, and called for full enforcement of a 2015 resolution demanding the group relinquish captured territory and weapons. Saudi officials welcomed the council’s statement and reaffirmed what they called the kingdom’s right to defend itself under international law.
Saeed Al-Batati contributed reporting from al-Mukalla, Yemen.
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