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Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced on August 7 that they had carried out another missile and drone strike against Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
In a statement, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said that the group executed “qualitative and precise strikes” after conducting detailed surveillance on the movements of Saudi-backed forces.
According to Saree, the operation targeted troop build-ups, weapons depots, military vehicles, and equipment inside the Sahn al-Jinn military camp. The base is a pivotal military hub situated just north of the capital of Marib, an energy-rich province in central Yemen that sits along vital transit corridors linking the country’s central highlands to its eastern desert regions.
The spokesman accused Saudi Arabia of pushing forces into the “furnace of an unjust and losing aggressive war.” He further declared that Houthis would maintain a posture of strict retaliation, warning that any foreign troop presence aimed at preserving restrictions on Yemen would face swift military action.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces are proceeding to meet escalation with escalation,” Saree said.
The spokesman emphasized that the rebels remain committed to enforcing the dual formulas of “blockade-for-blockade” and “targeting aggressive Saudi build-ups wherever they may be,” adding that the group “will not allow aggressive plans against our country to pass without an immediate and severe response.”
Addressing Yemeni combatants fighting alongside coalition forces, Saree renewed appeals for local troops to desert their posts and return to their hometowns.
“We renew our advice to the misled and deceived among our countrymen to leave the camps of the Saudi enemy and return to their areas before it is too late,” Saree said, urging them to “hurry to save themselves and not be fuel for traitorous factions that have pledged their fate to foreign entities.”
The spokesman also directly reached out to local tribal leaders in the surrounding region, praising “the proud tribes of Marib and its free, honorable people for standing alongside their people against occupation and guardianship.” He assured regional leaders that the Houthis stand with them “to extract the legitimate rights of our people and lift the blockade.”
Qasim Buhaibeh, health minister in Yemen’s internationally-recognized government, said that two people were killed and 14 others were wounded in the Houthi strike on Marib, noting that the toll is preliminary.
The attack “targeted residential neighborhoods and camps for internally displaced people” in Marib, Buhaibeh wrote, adding that authorities had instructed all health facilities to raise their levels of alert and preparedness.
Earlier in the day, the defense ministry in the Yemeni government said its forces had shot down several Houthi drones over Marib.
This was the second such strike by the Houthis this week. Just a day earlier, over 30 were killed, and at least dozens of others were wounded when missiles and drones launched by the group hit several positions of Saudi-backed forces in eastern Yemen.
Also on August 6, at least 11 civilians were injured in strikes by the group that targeted Saudi Arabia’s southern Najran region, according to Saudi-led coalition spokesman, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, who didn’t provide any further details.
The Houthis announced a “maritime blockade” against Saudi Arabia, and since then the group has carried out a series of missile and drone attacks targeting Saudi airports, oil facilities, and tankers in the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia is reported to be preparing an offensive against the Houthis, including a potential ground operation, in cooperation with the Yemeni government. At the same time, the kingdom is said to be engaged diplomatically through Oman in an attempt to de-escalate.
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