Two civilians killed in Houthi strike on Marib, Yemeni government says
The internationally recognized government of Yemen said at least two civilians were killed and 14 others wounded when Houthi forces struck the government-held city of Marib on Friday, the latest flare-up in a conflict that has continued to exact a heavy civilian toll.
Health Minister Qassem Bahaibah called the Iran-aligned Houthis a “terrorist militia” in a post on X, and said the figures were preliminary. He said authorities had instructed all medical facilities to raise alert levels and prepare for more casualties.
Yemen’s Ministry of Public Health and Population issued a statement condemning the attack “in the strongest terms,” saying the Houthis deliberately targeted safe residential neighborhoods and camps for displaced people. “The deliberate targeting of safe residential neighbourhoods and camps of displaced people, and the resulting casualties among unarmed civilians, constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and of all humanitarian values and covenants,” the statement said. It added that the attack should push the international community and humanitarian and human-rights organizations to take a serious and urgent stance to protect civilians and end their continued targeting.
Marib hosts the largest number of displaced families in Yemen, according to the UN refugee agency, and has long been one of the most volatile front lines in the country’s civil war.
The Friday strike came a day after Houthi attacks killed at least 30 government soldiers in Hadramout and Marib provinces. Earlier on Friday, Yemen’s Defense Ministry said its forces shot down several Houthi drones over Marib.
The Houthis did not immediately respond to the government’s statements. The attacks came amid intermittent fighting that has flared across several front lines since early July, with dozens of casualties on both sides.
In a sign of the conflict’s regional spillover, the Saudi-led coalition said on Friday that 11 people, including a four-year-old, were injured in a Houthi attack on Thursday on the southwestern Saudi city of Najran. Houthi cross-border strikes have increased in recent weeks against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which has sharply raised regional tensions.
Riyadh’s growing alarm over Houthi attacks coincides with a new security arrangement announced Friday: Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan signed a joint defense pact stating that an attack on any one of the three countries would be treated as an attack on all.
The Iran-backed Houthis seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and have since been fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government, which is based in the southern port city of Aden.