Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia have wounded 73 civilians, official says

The Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen says recent Houthi attacks on the kingdom’s southern provinces have wounded 73 civilians, including women and children, as cross-border attacks intensify alongside renewed fighting inside Yemen.

In a statement on Tuesday, coalition spokesperson Major-General Turki al-Maliki said the attacks targeted civilian and economic sites in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran.

He did not specify when the attacks took place.

Al-Maliki described the attacks as a “dangerous escalation” and a “blatant violation” of Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty that posed a direct threat to the kingdom’s citizens and residents.

He warned that the coalition would take “all necessary operational measures” to confront the attacks and act against the sources of the threat.

The statement came amid a sharp escalation in fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces across several provinces in Yemen.

The Houthis have accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an air strike on a detention facility in al-Hazm, in Yemen’s al-Jawf province, killing seven people, including a child, and wounding at least seven others.

Saudi Arabia had not commented on the allegation at the time.