Two civilians killed, 14 hurt in attack on Yemen's Marib, government says
Yemen's government said two civilians were killed and 14 others wounded in an attack on the city of Marib that it attributed to Houthi forces, Qazinform News Agency correspondent reports.
Health Minister Qassem Bahaibah, writing on X on Friday, described the figures as preliminary and said hospitals and clinics across the area had been ordered to move to higher levels of alert and readiness.
In a separate statement, the Ministry of Public Health and Population condemned the attack, saying residential districts and camps sheltering displaced families had been hit. The ministry described the reported targeting of civilian areas as a violation of international humanitarian law and called on international organizations to respond.
Marib holds the largest concentration of displaced families anywhere in Yemen, according to the United Nations refugee agency, which has made the city a focal point of humanitarian operations during the war.
The Houthi group gave a different account of the day's events. Spokesman Yahya Saree said on Telegram that its forces had struck Saudi-backed military units, storage facilities and equipment in the vicinity of Marib, and said the group would continue to target what he called Saudi troop movements. The statement did not refer to civilian casualties.
Yemen's Defense Ministry said earlier Friday that air defenses had brought down a number of Houthi drones over Marib.
The reported attack followed fighting a day earlier in Marib and Hadramout provinces. The Houthis said they had killed dozens of government soldiers in those operations, a claim that has not been independently verified.
Front lines in several parts of the country have seen intermittent combat since early July, with casualties reported on both sides.
The Houthis have also stepped up strikes on Saudi territory in recent weeks. The Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government said Friday that 11 people, among them a four-year-old child, were injured in an attack on the southwestern city of Najran a day earlier.
The escalation coincided with the signing on Friday of a joint defense agreement between Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan, under which an attack on one signatory would be treated as an attack on all three.
Tensions in the region have risen since the U.S. and Israeli military campaign against Iran, which the Houthis cited in explaining their recent operations.
Yemen's conflict dates to 2014, when Houthi fighters seized the capital, Sanaa. The internationally recognized government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, has since operated largely from the southern port city of Aden, while control of the country remains split between the two sides.
Earlier, Qazinform reported that at least 30 Yemeni government soldiers were killed and 15 others wounded in missile and drone attacks targeting military camps in the Hadramout and Marib governorates.