Coalition reports missile interception as Yemen fighting continues

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said its air defences destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile targeting southern Saudi Arabia on Monday, November 2, as fighting continued between the armed group and forces backing Yemen’s internationally recognised government. The interception was announced in a statement by coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki had earlier reported the destruction of a drone launched towards the same region on Sunday evening. On Monday, Saudi Civil Defence issued alerts about possible danger in Abha and the provinces of Khamis Mushait, Taif and Najran before lifting them. The authority also warned residents against recording, publishing or circulating information about missile and drone attacks.

In Yemen, media affiliated with the Houthis reported that coalition air strikes wounded seven people in the Red Sea coastal governorate of Hodeidah. According to those reports, four people were injured at the Ras Isa port dock and three at an oil company site in Bajil district. The coalition did not comment on the reports.

The exchanges came as Yemeni government troops continued efforts to recover positions in the strategic northern governorate of al-Jawf from the Iran-aligned Houthis. Army spokesman Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili said on Sunday evening that government forces had carried out 1,272 operations targeting Houthi fighters, defensive positions and weapons supplies during a 24-hour period.

Al-Nazili said military operations were continuing in al-Jawf, neighbouring Marib and al-Bayda farther south. He also claimed government forces had killed about 500 Houthi fighters and destroyed or disabled almost 170 vehicles, pieces of equipment or heavy weapons. Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify those claims.

Meanwhile, authorities warned of an escalating humanitarian crisis in the southwestern city of Taiz, where a continuing Houthi siege has blocked deliveries of food, fuel and medical supplies. Governor Nabil Shamsan appealed for urgent assistance for struggling health facilities. He said 120 health centres had ceased operating and another 66 were nearing closure since Houthi forces severed supply routes in early October.

Attempts to reach Taiz by alternative roads have also faced difficulties. Nour al-Din al-Mansouri, a member of the committee facilitating the work of the Taiz Siege Affairs Office, told Al Jazeera that at least 23 trucks had been damaged or overturned over the previous two weeks while using alternative routes. Taiz is Yemen’s third-largest city, with about one million residents out of a national population of roughly 43 million.

Full-scale combat resumed in September, when Houthi advances strengthened the group’s control along the Red Sea coast. In October, the internationally recognised government began Operation Dawn of Yemen to recapture Houthi-held sites and restore its authority over other areas controlled by the group. The Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.