A drastic escalation in fighting between the Saudi-led military coalition and Houthi rebels in Yemen has killed and wounded hundreds of people over the past week, officials and tribal leaders said on Monday.
The U.S.-backed Arab coalition battling to restore Yemen’s internationally recognized government stepped up airstrikes on rebel targets northeast of the capital, Sanaa, following a monthslong lull, while Houthis shelled government-held areas.
The sudden spike in violence across long-stalemated frontlines threatens to exacerbate the five-year conflict and complicate indirect peace talks between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed rebels.
The warring factions have concentrated their forces in three main areas: Nehm, a half-hour drive from the capital, Jawf, a mountainous northern district and Marib, a western province that saw one of the deadliest rebel attacks earlier this month. Fighting this week was the most intense these provinces had seen in three years, according to observers.
A wave of over 40 coalition airstrikes hit rebel targets, Houthi officials said, destroying many of their tanks and armored vehicles.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations. Tribal leaders did so for fear of reprisals.
Despite heavy losses on both sides, the Houthis are gaining ground, officials said. Rebels seized a key supply line linking Marib with Jawf, and are approaching the capital of the northwestern province. Artillery shelling in the district killed three civilians on Monday.
Throughout the day, President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi deliberated with military chiefs and local governors. He stressed the need to “upgrade military institutions to the highest level of training, armament and vigilance,” according to a government statement. Yemeni military setbacks have drawn recent complaints that the army lacks the sort of technically advanced weaponry propelling Houthi advances.
Fighting also flared up Monday in the large government-controlled city of Taiz, where a mortar shell fired by the Houthis struck a busy market, killing three civilians and wounding ten others. Meanwhile, heavy clashes in the central province of Bayda killed 13 troops on both sides.
Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed vowed government forces would “harshly confront” Houthi militias, which he accused of trying to “prolong the war and relieve the pressure and international isolation of Iran.”
The Houthi offensives, he said, signal “their explicit rejection of peace efforts.”
For months, back-channel negotiations in Oman between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis stirred modest hopes for reconciliation. But sharply escalating violence has put the political process on shaky ground.
Peter Salisbury, Yemen expert at the International Crisis Group, says the Houthis may be using their military successes to gain leverage before talks resume next week in Oman.
“Both sides seem to want some sort of truce,” said Salisbury. “But the danger is that if the Houthis feel they’re on the front foot, they’ll keep pressing advances and that will make these negotiations very difficult.”
Associated Press writer Isabel DeBre in Cairo contributed reporting.
JERUSALEM (AP) — A ship traveling in the Gulf of Aden came under attack Thursday, officials said, the latest assault carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels over Israel's ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The attack comes after the U.S. military said early Thursday an allied warship shot down a Houthi missile targeting a vessel the day before near the same area. The Houthis claimed that Wednesday assault, which comes after a period of relatively few rebel attacks on shipping in the region over Israel’s ongoing war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
In Thursday's attack, a ship was targeted just over 25 kilometers (15 miles) southwest of Aden, the British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said.
The captain “reports a loud bang heard and a splash and smoke seen coming from the sea,” the UKMTO said. “Vessel and all crew are safe.”
The attack was also reported by the private security firm Ambrey.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree claimed the attack late Thursday, identifying the ship the rebels tried to target as the MSC Darwin.
European Union forces separately shot down a drone launched from Houthi territory on Thursday, Gen. Robert Brieger said. Separately on Wednesday, the British warship HMS Diamond began the first in the Royal Navy to shoot down a missile since 1991 when it destroyed a Houthi missile targeting merchant ships.
The Houthis have launched more than 50 attacks on shipping, seized one vessel and sank another since November, according to the U.S. Maritime Administration.
Houthi attacks have dropped in recent weeks as the rebels have been targeted by a U.S.-led airstrike campaign in Yemen and shipping through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden has declined because of the threat. American officials have speculated that the rebels may be running out of weapons as a result of the U.S.-led campaign against them and firing off drones and missiles steadily in the last months.
However, Wednesday's attack was the first one by rebels in some time. An explosion struck some 130 kilometers (80 miles) southeast of Djibouti in the Gulf of Aden, the UKMTO said.
Early Thursday, the U.S. military’s Central Command said the explosion came from a coalition warship shooting down the missile likely targeting the MV Yorktown, a U.S.-flagged, owned and operated vessel with 18 U.S. and four Greek crew members.
“There were no injuries or damage reported by U.S., coalition or commercial ships,” Central Command said.
Saree claimed that attack but insisted without evidence that the missile hit the Yorktown. Saree also claimed the Houthis targeted another ship in the Indian Ocean, without providing proof. The Houthis have made repeated claims that turned out to not be true during their yearslong war in Yemen.
The Houthis have said they will continue their attacks until Israel ends its war in Gaza, which has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians there. The war began after Hamas-led militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and taking some 250 others hostage.
Most of the ships targeted by the Houthis have had little or no direct connection to Israel, the U.S. or other nations involved in the war. The rebels have also fired missiles toward Israel, though they have largely fallen short or been intercepted.
In this photo provided by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), a Sea Viper missile is launched from HMS Diamond to shoot down a missile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a large barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea Wednesday. (LPhot Chris Sellars/MoD Crown copyright via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), members of the HMS Diamond's Bridge team shoot down a missile fired by the Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen, Wednesday, April 24, 2024. Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired a large barrage of drones and missiles targeting shipping in the Red Sea Wednesday. (LPhot Chris Sellars/MoD Crown via AP)
