Houthis say Saudi strike kills 6 in Yemen port city Mokha

Saudi strikes on the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha killed at least six people and wounded eight others, the Houthi-affiliated news agency Saba reported Tuesday.

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has staged a lightning offensive in recent weeks to take over Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast, including Mokha, leaving the Saudi-backed government scrambling to respond.

“Six civilians, including two children and a woman, were killed and eight others, including a child and a woman, were injured in Saudi-led coalition airstrikes on Mokha,” Saba said.

The head of Yemen’s governing body Rashad al-Alimi held a call with US President Donald Trump to request American support against the pro-Iranian fighters, a source in Alimi’s office told AFP on Monday.

Trump did not promise military support, the source said, adding that the call took place on Sunday and was intended as a show of solidarity with Yemen’s embattled government.

US media has reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also urged Trump to strike the Houthis.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham agreed to give military support to Saudi Arabia, media reports said Monday.

Gains made by Yemen’s Houthis have cemented Iran and its allies’ hold over two key waterways, including the Strait of Hormuz, that the wider Gulf and top crude exporter Saudi Arabia rely on to ship out its oil.

The war in the Middle East began on Feb 28 with US-Israeli strikes on Iran, after which the Islamic Republic responded with attacks around the region.

Iran-backed groups, including the Houthis in Yemen and Hezbollah in Lebanon, also later became involved.

The war in impoverished Yemen, which began in 2014 with the Houthi capture of the capital Sanaa, had been largely frozen since 2022 but resumed in July.

Saudi Arabia has led a coalition backing the internationally recognised government since 2015. Its intervention escalated the war, which has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

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