Saudi-led coalition intercepts a missile as fighting rages in Yemen’s al-Jawf

Houthi-affiliated media report that seven people were wounded in strikes on the city of Hodeidah.

The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen says air defences intercepted a Houthi missile, while fighting continues to rage along key fronts between the armed group and forces loyal to the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

Defences “intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile” targeting Saudi Arabia’s southern region, said coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Maliki in a statement on Monday.

Earlier, he said defences destroyed a drone launched toward the southern region on Sunday evening.

Also on Monday, the Saudi Civil Defence authority issued and then lifted alerts warning of “potential danger” in the city of Abha, as well as the provinces of Khamis Mushait, Taif and Najran.

The authority warned residents against “filming, publishing or sharing information” related to missile and drone attacks.

In Yemen, a media outlet affiliated with the Houthi armed group, also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for Supporters of God), reported that seven people were wounded in Saudi-led coalition air strikes on Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast.

Four people were wounded in the attacks on Ras Isa port dock, while three others suffered injuries in a strike on an oil company site in the governorate’s Bajil district, Houthi media reported.

There was no comment on the reports from the Saudi-led coalition.

Humanitarian crisis

The latest clashes come as Yemeni government forces keep up their campaign to regain positions from the Iran-aligned Houthis in the strategic northern governorate of al-Jawf.

Yemeni army spokesman Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili said on Sunday evening that government forces conducted ۱,۲۷۲ “targeting operations” against Houthi fighters, fortifications and weapons supplies over ۲۴ hours.

Operations are ongoing in al-Jawf, neighbouring Marib and al-Bayda to the south, added al-Nazili. Government forces killed roughly ۵۰۰ Houthi fighters and destroyed or disabled nearly ۱۷۰ vehicles, equipment or heavy weaponry.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the claims.

In southwest Yemen, the Houthis continue to besiege the city of Taiz, blocking the entry of food, fuel and medical supplies, in what authorities warn is a mounting humanitarian crisis.

Taiz Governor Nabil Shamsan has called for urgent help for the city’s deteriorating health facilities. He said ۱۲۰ health centres have stopped operating and another ۶۶ are close to shutting down since the Houthis cut off supply routes to the city in early October.

Nour al-Din al-Mansouri, a member of the committee facilitating the work of the Taiz Siege Affairs Office, told Al Jazeera that at least ۲۳ trucks were damaged or overturned in the past two weeks while seeking alternative routes to Taiz.

The city is Yemen’s third-largest and home to about one million of the country’s roughly ۴۳ million people.

Full-scale fighting reignited in Yemen in September, when the Houthis made crucial gains that tightened their grip on the Red Sea coast.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government launched a campaign called Operation Dawn of Yemen last month to regain Houthi-held sites and restore government control over other territories held by the group, which seized the capital Sanaa in ۲۰۱۴.