Aden (South24 Center)

Yemen’s internationally recognized government said Saturday (August 8) that its forces carried out military strikes targeting Houthi positions across several fronts, in a significant escalation following a wave of missile and drone attacks that killed dozens of government soldiers and struck civilian areas in Yemen and neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The Defense Ministry said the operation, carried out in the early morning hours, targeted Houthi personnel, equipment and military capabilities along several front lines. Yemeni military spokesman Col. Majed Al-Nazili said the strikes came in response to recent Houthi attacks in central and eastern Yemen and were aimed at protecting government forces and their positions.

The ministry did not disclose the locations targeted in the strikes, the weapons used, or whether the operation caused casualties.

The response followed some of the deadliest Houthi attacks against pro-government forces since a U.N.-brokered truce in 2022 sharply reduced large-scale fighting.

The Houthis said Thursday that they had used ballistic missiles and drones against military gatherings in the Al-Ruwaik, Al-Abr and Al-Thaniyah areas of Marib and Hadramout governorates. They said the attacks came in response to what they described as a Saudi-backed military buildup.

Casualty figures from those attacks have varied significantly. Yemen’s official news agency reported that at least 17 government soldiers were killed, while Reuters, citing government sources, put the toll at at least 30 dead and around 50 wounded. Agence France-Presse, citing a Yemeni military source, reported that at least 58 government soldiers were killed in the attacks.

The escalation continued Friday.

Yemen’s official SABA news agency, citing local authorities, said ballistic missiles and drones struck displacement camps and residential neighborhoods in Marib, killing two people and wounding 14 others.

The Houthis, meanwhile, said they targeted the Sahn Al-Jinn military camp in Marib with missiles and drones, adding that the attack was aimed at Saudi-backed forces, weapons depots and military vehicles.

On the Harib front, south of Marib, three members of the Shabwa Defense Forces, part of the Southern forces, were killed and four others wounded Friday morning in a Houthi drone attack on their positions, according to a South24 Center correspondent in Shabwa.

The Shabwa Defense Forces later announced an operation dubbed “Rapid Response,” using Katyusha rockets and drones against Houthi positions and command-and-control centers on the Harib front.

The forces said the strikes inflicted human and material losses and described the operation as the beginning of their response to the Houthi attacks. Two members of the 9th Brigade were later reported killed during clashes on the same front.

The government’s announced military response came after an emergency meeting of the National Defense Council on Friday, chaired by Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al-Alimi.

The escalation also extended beyond Yemen’s borders.

Saudi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki said Houthi attacks targeting the southern Saudi region of Najran on Thursday wounded 11 civilians, including seven Saudis, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani.

Sources previously told South24 Center that a senior Saudi officer was killed and four other Saudi military personnel were wounded in attacks inside Yemen. Saudi authorities have not yet officially confirmed the reported military casualties.

The U.S. Mission to Yemen and the European Union condemned the attacks in Marib and Hadramout and offered condolences to the families of the Yemeni soldiers who were killed.

The United Nations issued one of its strongest warnings about Yemen’s trajectory since the 2022 truce.

U.N. Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said Friday that the attacks in Marib and Hadramout, together with renewed attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, had brought Yemen closer to a return to large-scale conflict than at any point since the April 2022 truce.

Grundberg urged all parties to exercise maximum restraint and return to U.N.-led negotiations.

The U.N. Security Council also expressed concern over rising tensions, warning that the escalation threatens regional security, freedom of navigation and efforts to achieve peace in Yemen.

The council urged the Houthis to refrain from further escalation and called on the parties to use existing channels of dialogue to reduce tensions.

The U.N.-brokered truce formally expired in October 2022, but it helped freeze major offensive operations between the Houthis, Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s internationally recognized government.