Sanaa, Aug 15 (IANS) Yemen’s Houthi group said Saturday that Saudi forces launched “artillery and missile strikes” on areas along Yemen’s northern border in the province of Saada, as tensions between the two sides continue to escalate.
The group’s affiliated Al-Masirah TV reported that “Saudi artillery fire” targeted Al-Dhaher district in the northern province of Saada, a Houthi stronghold bordering Saudi Arabia.
Separately, heavy “missile fire” struck the Bani Sayyah area in Saada’s border district of Razih, damaging farmland belonging to local residents, the television channel said.
No casualties were immediately reported, nor was there any immediate comment from Saudi authorities, Xinhua News Agency reported.
The reported shelling came a day after the Houthis claimed a drone attack on a facility belonging to Saudi state oil company Aramco in the southern region of Najran, saying the strike was a retaliation for an alleged incursion by Saudi warplanes into Saada’s airspace.
On Tuesday, the Houthi group said that it had targeted what it described as a Saudi military equipment transport ship in the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, as well as Saudi-backed forces in the government-held areas of Mocha and Marib.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, the Houthis’ military media center said the group’s forces had carried out an operation targeting “a Saudi military equipment transport ship” in Bab al-Mandab. It did not identify the vessel or provide further details about the operation.
Tensions have risen sharply since July 20, when the Houthis announced a maritime ban on Saudi shipping, citing an alleged Saudi blockade of Houthi-held areas, a claim Riyadh rejects.
Since then, the Houthis have claimed a series of attacks on Saudi tankers, energy facilities and airports, while also intensifying missile and drone strikes on government-held areas in Yemen.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
A United Nations (UN)-brokered truce that took effect in April 2022 expired six months later without a formal extension, but a fragile de facto ceasefire had largely contained direct hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis until the recent escalation.
–IANS
ksk/as