Seven civilians killed by Houthi rocket fired into Saudi Arabia

It was the highest reported number of civilian casualties in the kingdom’s south since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen 17 months ago.

A damaged building pictured in the southwestern city of Taez on August 17, 2016. Anees Mahyoub/Reuters

ADEN // Houthi rebel forces have blocked the last remaining main route between the fiercely-contested city of Taez and Aden, the port city which remains in government hands.

All traffic travelling between Aden and Taez and Lahj province in central Yemen was forced to divert on to rough mountain roads after the rebels detonated a bridge late on Tuesday.

On Wednesday the 35th brigade of the official Yemeni army imposed an 8pm to 6am curfew in Al Turbah, 70km from Taez, the aim being to prevent more potential Houthi supporters from joining the rebels and preventing any reopening of the road.

Taez province depends on the motorway for supplies of food, medicines and oxygen tanks for hospitals. It is also the only route by which those wounded in Houthi attacks can reach hospital in Aden.

Residents in Al Turbah said they feared the roadblock signals a tightening of the Houthi siege of Taez city and the outlying areas, where many of those displaced have fled to escape the fighting in the urban centre. Houthi forces also occupied Nagd Al Baad, Al Ahkoom and Al Akboosh, all areas sited along the motorway to Aden.

Military vehicles and government-supporting fighters were also seen arriving in Al Turbah from the direction of Taez, prompting speculation that the roadblock will turn out to be the trigger for a decisive battle to come.

The road closure came on the same day that Saudi Arabia suffered its worst civilian death toll in cross-border shelling from Yemen. A rocket fired by rebels in Yemen killed seven civilians in Najran city in the highest reported number of non-combatant casualties in the south of the kingdom’s south since the Arab coalition intervened in Yemen 17 months ago.

Social media video purportedly from the scene showed fires burning and the ground strewn with debris across a wide area. The rocket hit a busy industrial-commercial area where many garages are located.

More than 100 civilians and soldiers have been killed in southern Saudi Arabia by retaliatory rocket strikes or skirmishes since the coalition began operations to support Yemen’s internationally-recognised government against the Houthi rebels.

Fighting along the border has intensified since the collapse of UN-brokered peace talks earlier this month.

Saudi Arabia also launched an investigation into an air raid that killed 14 people at a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) in the rebel-held northern province of Hajja. .The dead included a member of the organisation’s staff. Another 24 were wounded in the air raid, which was the latest in a series of air raids which the coalition — which includes UAE forces. — resumed recently after three months of on-off peace talks ended with no progress and the Houthis being accused of using the time to rearm.

Meanwhile the Emirates Red Crescent has inaugurated a mobile clinic in the town of Tor al-Baha in Lahjj province as part of its humanitarian efforts to help Yemen. The new clinic will provide free services to the residents of the town and surrounding areas.