Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen launched at least 12 fresh missile attacks on the Yemeni provinces of Hadramout and Marib on Friday, following drone and ballistic missiles launched at Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni government military sites, killing at least 30 soldiers in the country, on Thursday, according to Al Jazeera.

Escalation in Regional Conflict

A senior Saudi official told journalists that a Houthi attack on southern Saudi Arabia on Thursday had wounded 11 civilians, including a young child. The attacks mark a major escalation in the regional conflict which has been reignited by the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran at the end of February, according to the report.

On Friday, a senior Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that intelligence suggests the Houthis and Iraqi armed groups may launch new attacks under the supervision of Iran’s Islamic Major Guard Corps (IRGC), including on energy infrastructure, ports and airports. Since the Yemen war broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed.

Casualty Reports and Government Response

Yemeni government sources told Al Jazeera that at least 30 government soldiers were killed and 15 others injured when Houthis fired eight missiles from al-Jawf governorate, north of Marib, targeting al-Thiniya and al-Abr in Hadramout and al-Rouk in Marib on Thursday. The sources said casualty numbers were expected to rise. Al Jazeera’s Yemen affairs editor Ahmed al-Shalafi reported that the missiles struck at 2pm local time (11:00 GMT) on Thursday, hitting camps belonging to several government military formations, the Homeland Shield Forces, the Emergency Forces and the First Military Region in Hadramout.

The Homeland Shield Forces were formed in 2022 with Saudi backing and number tens of thousands of troops. They guard the Marib-Hadramout frontier and the Saudi border. The formation also fought separatist Southern Transitional Council forces earlier this year. The Emergency Forces, created by presidential decree in late 2025 under Saudi-led coalition supervision, secure the land borders and anti-Houthi fronts in al-Jawf and Hadramout.

The First Emergency Division Command added that casualties had been high on Thursday because troops had gathered for a morning training exercise. Then, on Friday, Yemen’s State TV reported that the government’s air defences had downed a number of drones launched by the Houthis above Marib.

Continued Attacks and International Reactions

Reporting from Sanaa on Friday, Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry said that since the early morning, the Houthis had reportedly launched at least 12 more missile attacks on the Yemeni provinces of Hadramout and Marib. According to Houthi officials, these missile and drone attacks will continue against what they called Saudi allies, or proxies, over Yemeni land. He noted that the group is referring to the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

According to their latest statements, the Houthis believe the government is coordinating with Saudi Arabia for a potential ground offensive against Houthi positions. Meanwhile, according to the Reuters news agency, early on Friday, Major-General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government, said the Houthis had attacked Saudi Arabia’s southern Najran province, injuring seven Saudis, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani national. The victims included a four-year-old child who suffered second-degree burns.

Al-Maliki also accused the Houthis of indiscriminately shelling civilian areas in violation of international humanitarian law. The Iran-backed Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014. Since then, they have been fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government located in the port city of Aden. These tensions have only worsened since the US-Israel war on Iran began with strikes on Tehran on February 28.

On July 13, hostilities escalated when Yemen’s government attacked Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing. The Yemeni government accused Iran of using flights to Yemen as cover to send equipment to the Houthis. Speaking at the United Nations Security Council on Monday, Yemen’s ambassador to the UN Abdullah al-Saadi said the plane attempting to land in Sanaa was linked to Iran’s IRGC and had “personnel, know-how, and military and dual-use equipment.”

The Houthis then launched missiles at Saudi Arabia, whose coalition backs the government. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree told journalists that this attack had ended the “de-escalation phase” of Yemen’s war. Then on July 20, the Houthis imposed a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, disrupting oil shipments diverted to the Red Sea and also attacked Saudi state oil giant Aramco in the coastal cities of Jizan and Yanbu.

The Houthis accused Saudi leaders of imposing “an unjust and restrictive siege” for nearly 12 years, “plundering our resources and imposing a full blockade on our ports and airports by land, sea and air.” Multiple Saudi-flagged vessels and oil facilities have since been targeted by attacks. The Houthis’ Saree posted on X last week that the group had targeted the Saudi oil tanker, NCC Ghazal with ballistic missiles, forcing it to change course.

In 2023, following Israel’s attacks on Gaza, the Houthis also disrupted global shipping by attacking Israeli-linked ships transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait in protest over the war on Gaza. The escalating conflict has sparked fears that the Houthis could fully block Bab al-Mandeb, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a major supply route. Last week, Saudi Arabia announced the formation of a new international alliance to guard the Red Sea from attacks on shipping by Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. Dozens of countries have been invited to join the coalition and, on Thursday last week, Saudi Arabia said 13 countries had agreed.