Yemen‘s Iran-backed Houthis killed dozens of Saudi-supported government troops in missile and drone attacks Thursday, medical sources said, as the country’s conflict becomes the latest front in the US-Iran war.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the rebels attacked government positions with ballistic missiles and drones in response to an alleged military buildup backed by neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

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The attacks killed at least 38 government troops and injured 29, two medical sources told AFP. A military official described them as the deadliest between the two sides since 2022.

The defence ministry of Yemen’s internationally recognised government said in a statement that its armed forces would respond to the missile and drone attacks “at the appropriate place and time”.

The Houthi attacks risk pushing Yemen into a more intense cycle of violence and retaliation.

Sucked into war

The rebels have ramped up the provocations against their Saudi foes since last month, adding to the regional chaos since the US-Iran war erupted on February 28.

The military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP that a military camp in the al-Ruwaik area of Marib province, in central Yemen, had been attacked, as well as camps in the Al-Abr and Al-Wadiah areas of Hadramawt, near the border with Saudi Arabia.

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One missile attack hit troops during their morning formation at the camp in Marib, “killing and wounding at least 45 personnel”, said a military source, who declined to be named for security reasons.

Saree named Al-Ruwaik, al-Thaniyah and al-Abr as being among the areas hit, warning the rebels were “prepared to confront any escalation”.

Tit-for-tat

Yemen, which has been embroiled in more than a decade of war, became sucked into the Middle East war last month as the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels upended a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government.

The rebels welcomed an Iranian plane directly in the capital Sanaa, triggering tit-for-tat attacks. They later announced a maritime blockade of Saudi ports and began hitting its tankers.

Last month, the Houthis killed 16 troops in an attack on government-aligned forces south of the port city of Hodeidah, two medical officials told AFP.

The Houthis have been at war with the government since 2014 in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered a major humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

The rebels control Yemen’s capital Sanaa and much of the populous north, while the government holds much of the south.

The fighting had largely been frozen since a UN-negotiated truce in 2022 that had held despite expiring.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)