Iran-backed Houthi rebels released videos on Monday of what they said to be the aftermath of a Saudi-backed forces strike that targeted a telecommunication tower in Bayda province. Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled satellite news channel, aired footage it said shows the damaged tower. Another video released by Al-Masirah showed Mokha Airport, a supposed target of the Saudi-backed forces. Houthi officials said Monday that rebels had taken over the two islands just as Saudi-backed government forces tried to claw back territory from the rebels' swift advances around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. Anees al Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry, said in an X post on Tuesday that Saudi airstrikes killed three people, including two children, in Yemen's Taiz province. The Associated Press couldn’t independently verify the claim. Al-Asbahi said that two other people were wounded in the strikes. The official didn't say what the Saudi warplanes had targeted. Nearly 94,000 people have fled their homes in Yemen since fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces escalated this month, the International Organization for Migration said Monday. The worst-hit areas are Taiz and Lahj, where 48,000 have been displaced, the U.N. agency said, adding that more than 2,000 people have fled across the sea into Djibouti. Around 200 schools have been converted to shelters in southwestern Yemen to absorb an influx of families, the International Rescue Committee, an aid group, said. Fears are mounting that Yemen is inching closer to a return to a civil war that killed 150,000 before a 2022 ceasefire. The World Health Organization said more than 500 people were killed in a weeklong period ending Saturday, a sharp increase.
Source: Kanal13
