Yemen’s Houthis announce deaths of 9 fighters amid escalating clashes with gov’t forces

Yemen’s Houthi group announced Monday that nine of its fighters had been killed amid escalating military confrontations with Yemeni government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition in recent days.

The group’s Al-Masirah television aired footage showing funeral ceremonies for the nine fighters, according to an Anadolu Agency correspondent.

Three were buried in the northern province of Saada, two in the southwestern province of Taiz, and four others in the provinces of Ibb, Amran, and Sanaa.

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The report did not specify when or where they were killed, saying only that they had died in a “decisive battle with Saudi Arabia” — an apparent reference to fighting with Yemeni government forces backed by the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy.

Yemen’s state-run television reported Saturday that several Houthi missile-launch experts had been killed in airstrikes targeting sites in the eastern provinces of Marib and Al-Jawf.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis escalated after the group threatened to ban Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Last week, the Houthis announced a ban on maritime navigation to Saudi Arabia, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to vow a “firm and forceful” response and begin measures to protect vessels transiting the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

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