Saudi airstrikes on Taiz cause dozens of casualties as Yemen war escalates

SANAA, Yemen (AFP) -- Saudi airstrikes on Taiz in southwest Yemen caused dozens of casualties in an area controlled by the Houthis, said the group Sunday, as fighting escalated further after a truce broke down.

The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of launching two air raids that hit a market on the outskirts of the city, saying nearly 50 people were killed or wounded without specifying the exact breakdown.

The spokesperson said blood was "unjustly and aggressively spilled" in a statement posted online, vowing there would be consequences for the attack. Earlier, the group's Al-Masirah TV channel said a strike killed seven people and wounded 40 more at a market in Taiz, minutes after reporting that a Saudi fighter jet had targeted the area.

In a subsequent statement, the channel, citing the Houthis' health ministry, said that five children were among those wounded.

Multiple Houthi sources later told Agence France-Presse that nearly 30 fighters from the group were killed in the series of strikes, while eight civilians died. The city itself remains under the control of government forces but has long been besieged by Houthi fighters and remains one of the main fronts in Yemen's civil war.

Images broadcast by Al-Masirah showed vehicles with blown-out windows as well as damaged warehouses, where goods were covered in a thick layer of dust.

Following several years of relative calm, Yemen's war reignited in July, against the backdrop of the widening Middle East war.

The country is one of the poorest in the world and remains gripped by a vast humanitarian crisis.

Fighting intensified in September as the Houthis launched a lightning offensive that saw them seize Yemen's entire Red Sea coast, including the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a vital shipping lane.

The Houthis have in parallel launched a blockade on Saudi energy exports, already choked off by Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said it intercepted two Houthi drones that were heading in the direction of the capital Riyadh.

Schools in Riyadh announced on Sunday that they would be shifting to remote learning for a week, without giving a reason, according to messages sent to parents and seen by AFP.

Yemen's war erupted in 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa from the Saudi-backed government, before going on to take control of vast swaths of the country's north.

Riyadh intervened in the war the following year at the head of an international coalition.

Despite Saudi backing, Yemen's government forces have been unable to repel the latest Houthi offensive.