Fighting intensifies in Yemen as Houthis deny targeting Mecca

World Health Organisation says more 320,000 people have been displaced in Yemen fighting since August 1.

Yemen’s Houthis have rejected Saudi claims that they targeted Islam’s holiest city, Mecca, as casualties surge in the war between the internationally recognised government and the Iran-allied Houthis.

A Houthi spokesperson on Wednesday denied what he called Saudi “lies” that the Iran-allied group had launched a drone towards Mecca, saying instead that a drone was launched at a pumping station in Yanbu on the Red Sea, and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was targeted with three cruise missiles.

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Earlier, Saudi-led coalition forces said they had intercepted three cruise missiles launched towards Riyadh, along with drones launched towards Mecca and Saudi Arabia’s southern regions.

Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence Authority said debris from the interception of two ballistic missiles fell in the village of Sabuhah in Mecca province.

“This hostile targeting of civilian objects constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and reflects the dangerous hostile approach pursued by the Houthi militia,” Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said early on Thursday.

Attacks on Aden

Suspected Houthi missile strikes in the kingdom came as fighting intensified inside Yemen between the Saudi-backed forces fighting on behalf of the internationally recognised government and Houthi fighters.

At least 138 Houthi fighters were killed or wounded in hundreds of targeted attacks, according to Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili, the spokesperson for Yemen’s army.

In a post on X, al-Nuzaili said Yemen’s Saudi-backed army had carried out 773 field artillery attacks on top of 44 drone strikes and 37 rocket attacks in al-Jawf, Marib, al-Bayda and Taiz governorates.

He also said Saudi-led coalition forces had conducted 23 air strikes against the Houthis, damaging 86 heavy weapons and military vehicles.

Despite their successes on the field on various fronts, the Saudi-backed forces have failed to stop Houthi attacks on the al-Buraiqa district in Aden, where the internationally recognised government is based.

“The repeated shelling by the terrorist Houthi militia on the city of Aden, most recently targeting the densely populated al-Buraiqa district, reflects the militia’s established pattern of targeting civilians and terrorising innocent people,” Minister of Information Salem al-Awalqi said in a social media post.

“These assaults will fail to break the will of the people of Aden or undermine their resilience; rather, they will only strengthen their resolve to confront the aggression and defend their city,” he added.

Yemen’s Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said his forces had “successfully targeted” a Saudi coalition military command and control centre in Aden’s al-Buraiqa district with “several ballistic missiles”.

In a Telegram post, Saree said the facility was responsible for directing and overseeing Saudi military reinforcements across active fronts in Lahij, al-Dhale, Taiz and other governorates.

Rising casualties

Casualties from the fighting in Yemen have risen sharply to 11,755, including 2,098 killed and 9,657 wounded, as of November 8, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

The United Nations agency said that more than 2,000 casualties were recorded in just nine days, with Marib and Lahij among the worst affected governorates.

More than 320,000 people have been displaced as a result of fighting since August 1, including almost 16,000 forced to flee their homes in the past week, it said.

The WHO said strikes have also hit health facilities and ambulances, and warned that critical fuel shortages are disrupting emergency medical services in Taiz.

Despite the delivery of medical supplies and a vaccination campaign targeting nearly one million children, major gaps remain in trauma care, rehabilitation, and mental health services, it said.