Houthi attack wounds 11 civilians in Saudi Arabia, Riyadh-led coalition says
Yemen's Houthis late Thursday wounded 11 people in an attack on southern Saudi Arabia, a Riyadh-led coalition said, the highest toll in the kingdom from an attack by the rebels in years.
The attacks come as Yemen is increasingly drawn into the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, with the rebels stepping up attacks against both Yemen government forces and neighboring Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally and supporter of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
Casualties in Thursday's attack included seven Saudis, including a four-year-old who sustained second-degree burns, and a woman, two Egyptians, a Yemeni and a Pakistani, coalition spokesman General Turki al-Maliki said in a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency.
The attack was carried out in the Najran region, on the border with Yemen, he added.
Saudi Arabia has been leading a military coalition supporting Yemen's government against the Houthis since 2015.
Earlier on Thursday, the Houthi rebels killed at least 58 Yemeni government troops in missile and drone attacks on military positions in central and eastern Yemen, according to a military source.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the strikes targeted government forces in response to what he described as a Saudi-backed military build-up.
Yemen's defense ministry vowed to respond "at the appropriate place and time".
Yemen, already battered by more than a decade of war, has increasingly been drawn into the regional confrontation centered on Iran.
The Houthis, who control the Yemeni capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, have abandoned a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government that had largely held despite expiring, announcing a maritime blockade of Saudi ports.
The rebels have since been hitting Saudi ships and have intensified attacks on Yemeni government forces.
Last month, they killed 16 troops aligned with the government south of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, according to medical sources.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
