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Houthi drone attack kills Yemeni soldier, hurts two others: officials

Saturday's deadly drone attack in the country's third largest city of Taez follows clashes in Marib province earlier this week that killed soldiers, military sources said.

AP

Yemen's war broke out in 2014 and quickly saw Houthi rebels seize the capital Sanaa, prompting Saudi-led forces to intervene to prop up the government the following year.

A Yemeni soldier has been killed and two others wounded in a drone attack launched by Houthi rebels in the war-torn country's south, a government official told AFP news agency.

A military source in the besieged government-held city of Taez confirmed the incident on Saturday, the latest in renewed fighting in Yemen despite diplomatic efforts to halt the long-running conflict.

The drone attack targeted a military checkpoint "before the passage of a convoy carrying Defence Minister Mohsen al Daari, accompanied by chief of staff General Saghir bin Aziz, who were heading towards the city of Taez," the government official said, also requesting anonymity.

Taez, Yemen's third largest city, is controlled by the Saudi-backed government but surrounded by the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have seized large swathes of the country in almost a decade of war.

Clashes on Monday in oil-producing Marib province, one of the main battlegrounds and the government's last stronghold in the north, killed 10 soldiers, military sources told AFP.

Ten soldiers have been killed by Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen's Marib province pic.twitter.com/5Jj4fnBBZ1
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) March 22, 2023

The flare-up comes amid growing international efforts to end the war that has ravaged the Arab world's poorest country.

The Houthis seized control of Yemen's capital Sanaa in late 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year.

The war has killed hundreds of thousands directly or indirectly, and triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Earlier this month, Riyadh and Tehran agreed to restore diplomatic ties after a seven-year rupture, spurring some hope it would lead to calm in Yemen, where the regional heavyweights back opposing sides.