Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi militia on Friday said it carried out an attack with a large number of missiles and drones against pro-government forces in the eastern province of Marib, one of the main strongholds of the country's internationally recognized government.
In a statement, the military spokesman for the rebel group, Yahya Saree, vowed that the group would strike hard against any build-up linked to what he called the "Saudi enemy."
The statement did not comment on an earlier report by Yemeni Health Minister Qasim Buhaibeh that the Houthis had attacked residential areas and camps housing displaced people in Marib, killing two civilians and injured 14 others.
In a post on X, Buhaibeh accused the Houthis of targeting residential areas and displacement camps and called on the international community to take a "serious" stance to protect civilians in war-torn Yemen.
Witnesses had earlier told dpa that around 10 displaced people were injured in Houthi shelling of a camp north of Marib.
Meanwhile, the government-controlled Saba news agency reported that naval forces in Mocha in western Yemen foiled a Houthi operation on Friday targeting an oil tanker in the Red Sea with an explosive-rigged boat.
Tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, which backs the internationally recognized Yemeni government, have escalated in recent weeks, with Saudi airstrikes targeting the Houthi-controlled capital Sana'a.
The Houthis, for their part, have attacked several Saudi vessels or forced them to change course after announcing a naval blockade in the Red Sea against the oil-rich kingdom.
A Saudi-led military coalition said on Friday that 11 civilians were injured in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia's southern Najran region the previous day.
"The terrorist Houthi militia carried out these terrorist attacks using indiscriminate shelling against civilian objects," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki wrote on X, saying the attacks violated international law.
The coalition would continue taking "deterrent measures" to protect civilians from further attacks, he said.
An unofficial ceasefire has largely held in Yemen since 2022, but there are growing concerns that the civil war could flare up again.
The country has been mired in conflict since the Houthis seized Sana'a and other parts of northern Yemen in late 2014.
Saudi Arabia has since led a military coalition supporting the Yemeni government against the Houthis.