At least two civilians were killed and 14 injured in the latest Houthi attack on the Yemeni government-held city of Marib, according to the internationally recognized government.
Qassem Bahaibah, Yemen's health minister, denounced the Iran-aligned Houthis as a "terrorist militia" in a post on X on Friday, adding that the toll of casualties was preliminary.
Bahaibah said authorities had instructed all health facilities to raise their levels of alert and preparedness.
Friday's attacks came the day after the Houthis killed at least 30 government soldiers in Hadramout and Marib provinces.
The government condemned Friday's attack "in the strongest terms" in a media statement issued by the Ministry of Public Health and Population. The statement said that "the deliberate targeting of safe residential neighborhoods and camps of displaced people, and the resulting casualties among unarmed civilians, constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and of all humanitarian values and covenants."
Marib hosts the largest number of displaced families in Yemen, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
Earlier on Friday, the Yemeni Defense Ministry said its forces had shot down several Houthi drones over Marib. The Houthis did not immediately comment on the government's statements.
The attacks came amid intermittent fighting on several front lines across Yemen since early July that has resulted in dozens of casualties on both sides.
The Houthis have also increased attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks, following a sharp rise in tensions triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran. The Saudi-led coalition, which supports Yemen's internationally recognized government, said on Friday that 11 people, including a four-year-old, were injured in a Houthi attack on the city of Najran in southwestern Saudi Arabia on Thursday.
Escalating tensions between the Houthis and Riyadh come as Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, and Pakistan signed a joint defense pact on Friday, stating that an attack on any of the three countries would be treated as an attack on all.
The Iran-backed Houthis took control of Yemen's capital Sanaa in 2014. Since then, they have been fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government in the port city of Aden.
Source: www.aljazeera.com