Houthi attack kills 2 soldiers in Yemen’s Shabwa

Two Yemeni soldiers were killed and seven others wounded on Monday when Houthi forces shelled government positions in the southern Shabwa governorate, local media reported. The attack came as fighting intensified between the internationally recognized government and the Iranian-backed rebel group.

Sama Adan news portal said the Houthis targeted military installations in the oil-rich province without providing additional details on the specific locations or the duration of the bombardment. No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the assault, though the incident follows a pattern of recent Houthi offensives in southern Yemen.

Renewed Violence

The assault marks the latest flare-up in a recent wave of violence that has swept across multiple Yemeni fronts since last month. Clashes between government troops and Houthi fighters have claimed dozens of lives on both sides, reversing months of relative calm that had held since April 2022.

Protracted Conflict

Yemen has endured nearly 12 years of civil war since the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa and large swathes of the country in 2014. Government forces, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, have battled the rebel movement in a conflict that has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises despite periodic lulls in fighting.