Yemen’s Houthis fire 4 ballistic missiles at central city as army repels southern attack

By Tarek Chouiref

ISTANBUL (AA) - Yemen’s Houthi group fired four ballistic missiles at the government-held city of Marib late Monday while the army reported repelling a separate Houthi assault in the country’s south, according to local authorities and military officials.

Marib’s local government said the missiles targeted the densely populated city, which hosts large numbers of displaced people.

The authorities gave no immediate details on casualties or damage.

The latest attack came a day after local authorities reported that the Houthis had fired eight ballistic missiles at Marib, without providing information on possible losses.

On Oct. 15, the governorate also reported a Houthi attack involving nine ballistic missiles and seven other projectiles targeting residential neighborhoods.

Marib, a major government stronghold and oil and gas production hub, is home to more than 2.2 million displaced people, according to government figures.

Separately, Yemen’s army said Monday that its forces had repelled a Houthi assault on the Kahbub front in the western part of Lahj governorate in southern Yemen.

The army-affiliated Southern Giants Brigades said in a statement that Houthi fighters launched successive waves of attacks, triggering hours of clashes involving various weapons.

Backed by the Saudi-led coalition, government forces forced the attackers to retreat, killing and wounding Houthi fighters and destroying military equipment, according to the statement.

The brigades did not provide casualty figures.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several governorates in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognized government. The latest fighting began in July, when a 2022 UN-brokered truce broke down.