Houthi media says Saudi strike kills 9 in northern Yemen

An alleged Saudi airstrike in Yemen killed at least nine people and wounded 16 others, Houthi media reported, as fighting between the two sides in the country's revived civil war escalates further.

The Iran-backed group's Saba news agency said an airstrike on a home in Saada governorate in Yemen's north "led to the martyrdom of nine and the injury of 16 others, most of them women and children", adding that the toll was not final.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis has launched hundreds of raids in Yemen backing the internationally recognised government since the start of the renewed fighting in the long-running civil war.

The conflict, dormant for years, erupted again in July and intensified after the Houthis seized the country's Red Sea coast last month.

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi targets in recent weeks, including vessels in the Red Sea, oil facilities and Riyadh's international airport, where 13 people were killed in a single attack last week.

According to the Houthis, Saudi strikes since the beginning of September have killed scores of people.

'Political process'

Saudi Arabia has accused Iran of encouraging the Houthis' recent escalation, a charge Tehran denies.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that Tehran supported a "comprehensive political process as the only practical and sustainable way to resolve" the conflict on the Arabian Peninsula.

He also repeated Iran's offer to mediate between the two sides.

Deputy Foreign Minister Saeed Khatibzadeh previously said Riyadh has not responded to Iran's overture.

But Yemeni Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba rejected Iran's offer in a statement on X, saying "the Tehran regime is a party to the war against Yemenis, not a mediator".

The Houthis are part of Iran's "Axis of Resistance" against Israel and the United States, but both they and Tehran insist the group acts independently.

Saudi Arabia has carried out daily airstrikes on the Houthis in Yemen, where government forces are seeking to roll back gains the group made in a lightning offensive in September.

Yesterday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said Riyadh had conducted 53 strikes in the capital Sanaa and six other provinces over the past 24 hours, causing "numerous dead and wounded".

A Houthi-affiliated news agency had earlier accused Saudi warplanes of targeting "civilian residences" in Dhamar and Taiz provinces, killing 12 people and wounding more than 30.

It alleged that the strikes were carried out "using cluster bombs, which are banned internationally".