RIYADH: The Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said Friday that 11 civilians were wounded in a Houthi attack on the southern border region of Najran, a day after the Iran-backed group launched its deadliest assault on government forces in Yemen since 2022.
The Joint Forces Command of the coalition said the civilians were injured late Thursday when projectiles fired indiscriminately by the Houthis struck civilian areas in Najran.
The wounded included seven Saudi citizens, a Yemeni, two Egyptians and a Pakistani national. Among the Saudis were a woman and a four-year-old child who suffered second-degree burns, according to coalition spokesman Major General Turki Al-Malki.
Al-Malki accused “Houthi terrorists” of deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in violation of international humanitarian law, adding that coalition forces would continue taking “all deterrent measures” to protect civilians from further attacks.
The border strike came hours following a large-scale Houthi missile and drone assault on military camps in the Marib and Hadramout governorates.
At least 58 government soldiers were killed and dozens wounded in the attacks, according to local sources cited by AFP, making it the deadliest strike against Yemen’s internationally recognized government forces since 2022.
The coalition reaffirmed Saudi Arabia’s support for Yemen’s internationally recognized government and expressed condolences to the families of those killed, while wishing those injured a speedy recovery.
The attacks underscore a sharp deterioration in Yemen’s security situation after the country’s long-running conflict became entangled in the wider regional confrontation last month.
The Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, abandoned a fragile truce with the Saudi-backed government after welcoming an Iranian aircraft into Sanaa, triggering a new cycle of hostilities. The group later declared a maritime blockade of Saudi ports and began targeting Saudi-linked shipping.
Last month, Houthi fighters also killed 16 government-aligned troops south of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, according to medical officials.
Yemen has been devastated by more than a decade of conflict since the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, sparking a war that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Although a UN-brokered truce reached in 2022 significantly reduced fighting, the latest attacks have raised fears that the conflict is entering a new and more dangerous phase.
