Daijiworld Media Network - Sanaa
Sanaa, Sep 21: Four people were killed and three others injured on Sunday in Saudi airstrikes reportedly targeting telecommunications infrastructure in Yemen's northern Al-Jawf province, Houthi-run media reported.
Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV said Saudi warplanes struck telecommunications towers in an area of Al-Jawf along Yemen's northern border with Saudi Arabia.
Citing a local source, the report said four workers at the telecommunications facilities were killed and three others injured.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the reported strikes. The casualties could not be independently verified, Xinhua news agency reported.
The reported airstrikes came amid a sharp escalation in fighting between the Houthi group and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
Earlier on Sunday, the Houthis claimed that Saudi warplanes had carried out 28 airstrikes over a 24-hour period across Al-Jawf, southwestern Taiz and the oil-rich northeastern province of Marib.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement that F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from Saudi air bases at Khamis Mushait and Taif carried out strikes in Taiz, Marib and Al-Jawf provinces.
Sarea claimed that the cumulative number of airstrikes since the latest escalation began had reached 760.
Saudi Arabia has not immediately commented on the figures released by the Houthis.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting continued on Sunday in southwestern Yemen, where the Houthis reportedly seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha on September 10.
The group subsequently advanced south and captured Dhubab and Mayyun Island in the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait on September 11.
Yemeni government forces are now attempting to halt further Houthi advances along the mountainous approaches to the strategic waterway.
The conflict in Yemen began in late 2014 after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen.
Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.
The latest Houthi advance marks the sharpest escalation in fighting since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely brought a halt to major hostilities.