Houthi projectile wounds two, damages mosque in Jazan region, Saudi says

Saudi Civil Defence has said that two people were wounded and a mosque and several buildings were damaged after a projectile fired by the Yemeni Houthi rebels struck Saudi Arabia’s southern Jazan region.

Several vehicles were also damaged by the projectile that landed in Jazan’s al-Tuwal governorate on Saturday, it added.

A civil defence spokesperson called the targeting of civilian objects a “flagrant violation of international humanitarian law”, adding that established emergency procedures had been implemented.

The Houthis claimed their attack targeted a Saudi military base in Sharurah, in the southern Najran province.

Saudi Civil Defence later said the danger had passed in the Khamis Mushait governorate after a warning was issued for residents there.

The Iran-backed Houthis have launched missile and drone strikes on southern Saudi Arabia in recent days.

On Tuesday, the group struck civilian and economic facilities in Saudi cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, wounding 73 people, including women and children.

The strikes on the kingdom are part of a rapid escalation in Yemen’s long-running conflict, which reignited in July after roughly four years of relative calm under a United Nations-brokered truce.

Houthi fighters have taken control of Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast, seizing the strategic port city of Mocha, while Yemeni government forces have opened new fronts in al-Jawf, Marib and al-Bayda.

More than 500 people have been killed and tens of thousands displaced in the fighting, according to the International Organization for Migration and local officials.

The UN Security Council held an emergency session on the crisis this month, as Special Envoy Hans Grundberg warned Yemen faces “a new and more dangerous phase of war”.