War in Yemen: Houthis report dead and dozens injured in attack

afp/dpa | According to the Houthi rebels, at least seven people were killed and 40 others injured in an air strike in Yemen's Tais province. The Saudi air force attacked a shopping area around the central market of Tais, the Houthi television channel Al-Masirah reported. The station showed footage of high clouds of smoke and a destroyed warehouse in which, among other things, food was piled up in boxes. The information cannot be independently verified.

The Houthi Ministry of Health accused Saudi Arabia's air force of a "heinous crime." This would directly and deliberately attack civilian targets in Tais.

Troops from the internationally recognized government in Yemen said their air force had attacked a Houthi camp and vehicles in the area. The government troops are supported by Saudi Arabia. They had already reported attacks on Houthi fighters and on weapons depots in the east and south of the strategically important province on Saturday.

In the wake of the Iran War, the civil war in Yemen has escalated again. There are fightings in several parts of the country. At least 125,000 people have been displaced by the new fighting. The fighting is also taking place in the highlands near the important Bab al-Mandab strait.

The government called for a general mobilization and urged Yemenis to join the army and security forces. Amnesty has been offered to Houthi fighters who lay down their arms and leave the militia.

The Houthis said Saudi Arabia had carried out about two dozen more strikes in Yemen within 24 hours and more than 1,000 such strikes since the new escalation began.

Saudi Arabia has also been exposed to new attacks since the Houthis' new advance. In recent days, Saudi civil defense has issued new warnings for Khamis Mushait and Abha in the south - presumably because of new attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis.

Saudi Arabia also appears to want to publicly commemorate its new alliance with nuclear power Pakistan and Turkey, whose militaries are among the strongest in the Middle East. Military chiefs from the three countries met in Riyadh on Friday and discussed the current threat to Saudi Arabia. Their Mecca Defense Pact contains an assistance clause under which an attack on one party is considered an attack on all. So far, however, neither Pakistan nor Turkey have actively entered the Yemen war.

In Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh, parents have been informed by schools that their children's lessons will be switched to distance learning for a week. The short-term plan emerges from emails that were available to the AFP news agency on Sunday. An official reason for the change was not announced. Saudi Arabia is currently being attacked almost daily by the pro-Iranian Houthi militia in Yemen as a result of the conflict in the Gulf region.

“We have just been informed by the Saudi Arabian authorities that schools must remain closed throughout the week,” said two separate messages seen by AFP. “When a decision affects an entire school community for an entire week, families deserve clear communication and transparency about the reasons behind it,” a Riyadh-based parent told AFP. "It's a last-minute decision. We have no idea what's going on," said a Lebanese citizen living in Riyadh.

On Saturday, a Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthi militia in Yemen said it had intercepted drones and ballistic missiles targeting the kingdom. The Houthis in Yemen resumed attacks in July after a years-long ceasefire, expanding the Iran war to Yemen. The UN Security Council had condemned recent attacks by Houthi militants on Saudi Arabia, noting that “civilians, including women and children,” had been injured.

Saudi Arabia has called on the international community to protect freedom of navigation in the Gulf region. “Protecting international shipping and supply chains is a shared responsibility that requires serious international cooperation,” Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan told the UN General Assembly in New York on Saturday. He referred to the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden.

The Saudi Arabian chief diplomat called for “the restoration of conditions in the Strait of Hormuz to the level before February 28, without the imposition of any fees or taxes.” On that day, the USA and Israel started the Iran War with attacks. Since then, Tehran has largely blocked the Strait of Hormuz, which is important for world trade, and the USA has imposed a naval blockade of Iranian ports. Bin Farhan accused the international community of failings in the Gulf region. “The international community has failed in its responsibility to confront everything that threatens international peace and security,” he said in New York.

In addition to the unstable situation in the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has also suffered from a naval blockade by the pro-Iranian Houthi militia in Yemen since July. This has been attacking targets in the kingdom ever since. After a lightning offensive, the militia took control of large parts of Yemen's coast on the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait in mid-month. The Bab al-Mandab Strait connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and thus the Indian Ocean. It is an important route for international shipping, particularly for the export of Saudi Arabian oil.