DUBAI: Yemen’s armed forces said Monday they would respond to a Houthi missile and drone attack on Mocha that killed seven people and wounded 30 others.
The military said it viewed Sunday’s attack on its units in the Red Sea port city as an assault on the armed forces as a whole, adding that any such attacks would be dealt with on that basis.
“We possess the will, capability and initiative necessary to neutralize the sources of the threat,” military spokesperson Col. Wahed Abdullah Al-Nazzal said in a statement.
The military said four of its personnel and three civilians were killed in the attack, while 30 others, mostly civilians, were wounded.
It said the Houthis targeted civilian infrastructure, homes, power stations and military positions using missiles and drones.
Air defenses intercepted and shot down 11 Houthi drones involved in the attack, according to the statement.
The military said it would continue operations against the Iran-backed Houthis while seeking to protect civilian lives and property.
Meanwhile, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg warned on Monday that recent Houthi attacks on Al-Hudaydah, which reportedly caused civilian and military casualties and damaged infrastructure including the port, risk triggering a return to widespread conflict in Yemen.
Grundberg said the attacks come amid an “unprecedented escalation” in military operations since the UN-brokered truce in 2022, exposing civilians to “grave danger” in Al Hudaydah, Marib and other areas.
He called for the escalation to stop, urged all parties to exercise “the utmost restraint” and said civilians and civilian infrastructure must be protected.
“Escalation pushes Yemen in the opposite direction,” Grundberg said, stressing that the conflict can only be sustainably resolved through an inclusive political proces
