Yemen’s Houthis launch ballistic missile attacks on al-Makha and Marib

The latest attacks come just a day after Houthi forces targeted al-Makha (Mocha) and its port, killing seven people.The armed forces of Yemen’s internationally recognised government have accused the Houthis of launching another round of ballistic missile attacks on the Red Sea port city of al-Makha and on residential areas in the central city of Marib.Yemeni forces did not state whether the attacks on Monday caused any casualties.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4The post-American Middle East is beginning to take shapelist 2 of 4What are the challenges facing the Mecca agreement?list 3 of 4Will Pakistan-Saudi-Turkiye defence pact change US strategy?list 4 of 4Iran changed the rules in Hormuz. The Gulf is changing the rules for Iranend of listThe attacks came a day after Houthi missiles killed at least seven people and wounded 30 others in al-Makha, which is also known as Mocha. The strikes caused extensive damage at the city’s port area.Elsewhere in Yemen on Monday, a Houthi drone strike killed two Yemeni government soldiers and wounded seven others in the south-central province of Shabwa, according to local media reports.Yemeni forces, in a series of posts on X, said they targeted Houthi rebels and their sites in eastern al-Jawf province, northwestern Saada province and the al-Tibas area of central Marib province.The tit-for-tat attacks are the deadliest in years in Yemen’s civil war and mark a major escalation in the conflict, which has been reignited by the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28.The Iran-backed Houthis captured Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014, with a Saudi-led coalition intervening in March 2015 on the side of the government.The conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, deteriorated into a deadlock, and the warring parties reached a truce in April 2022 that ended major fighting across the country.But the violence reignited on July 13 with a Saudi air strike on the runway of Sanaa airport, preventing the landing of an Iranian flight carrying a high-ranking Houthi delegation.