Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted a Houthi missile fired at the Eastern Province; Human Rights Watch says Houthi siege of Taizz may be a war crime

Saudi air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthi movement toward Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province early on Thursday 29 October, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on X. He did not report casualties or damage, Anadolu Agency reported. Saudi Civil Defense later issued an all-clear for the Eastern Province and Najran.

The coalition said on Wednesday it had intercepted a Houthi missile fired toward Taif. On Wednesday, Yemeni government forces said a Houthi attack on Aden airport injured civilians and caused material damage, and air traffic was halted, Reuters reported. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group’s earlier evacuation warning for the airport was prompted by what he said was a Saudi military cargo aircraft delivering weapons. Yemen’s transport minister said on Thursday the airport had resumed normal operations, The National reported. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said 14 people were killed in what it described as a Saudi attack in Jawf province.

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that conditions in Taizz, Yemen’s third-largest city, had worsened sharply since Houthi forces fully encircled it in October, with shortages of food, water, fuel and medicine. It said the siege “may amount to the war crime of using starvation as a method of warfare”. A Houthi spokesperson told the group on 21 October that government forces, not Houthi forces, were blocking the roads. The UN World Food Programme said on 14 October it could not reach more than 600,000 people in Taizz who depend on aid.

Background

The Houthis took Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in 2014, and a Saudi-led coalition has fought them since 2015. Fighting has intensified in recent weeks, ending a largely observed 2022 UN-brokered truce, Reuters reported. See also: Coalition says it destroyed Houthi missile tunnels.