SANAA, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi group said Friday it had fired a barrage of ballistic missiles at "Saudi-backed" Yemeni forces and military equipment in the government-held Red Sea port city of Mocha, reportedly killing four civilians.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement on social media platform X that "a large number of ballistic missiles targeted Saudi military reinforcements, weapons and military boats" in the city in southwestern Taiz province.
Sarea claimed the strikes destroyed boats and weapons, killing or wounding dozens of "Saudi-backed" personnel.
Yemen's state-run Saba news agency reported that four civilians were killed when Houthi missiles struck residential neighborhoods in Mocha on Friday evening.
Earlier, the pro-government Aljoumhouriya TV reported that the Houthis fired five missiles at Mocha port, causing casualties, without giving a toll.
Local residents told Xinhua that successive powerful explosions shook the coastal city as flames and thick smoke rose from the port and surrounding areas.
Wadah Dobish, spokesperson for the joint pro-government forces on Yemen's western coast, said one of the strikes hit fishing boats near the port, setting several ablaze and causing civilian casualties.
The government-held port sits near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a key route for global trade and energy shipments.
The Houthis have sharply intensified missile and drone attacks in recent weeks against government-held areas in Yemen and targets in neighboring Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the Yemeni government.
The group announced a maritime ban on Saudi shipping on July 20 and has since claimed attacks on Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea as well as energy facilities inside the kingdom.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.
A UN-brokered truce that took effect in April 2022 expired six months later without a formal extension, but a fragile de facto ceasefire has largely held until the recent escalation. ■
