Two killed, 15 wounded in Houthi drone attack on Yemeni forces in Hadramout

Two people were killed and 15 others injured in a drone attack by Houthi militants targeting Yemeni government forces in the Al-Abr area of Hadramout province, a Yemeni military source told Al Arabiya on Thursday.

The attack coincided with renewed clashes between government forces and Houthi militants in recent days, while Yemen’s western coast saw another confrontation between the Yemeni navy and a group of Houthi explosive-laden boats.

Earlier today, a Yemeni security source said the clash with the Houthi boats resulted in the destruction of two vessels.

In a separate development, a Yemeni government official said yesterday that dozens of Houthi fighters were killed or wounded following artillery shelling and drone strikes by army forces targeting Houthi positions, gatherings, and reinforcements on several fronts.

Fayadh Al-Naaman, Yemen’s Deputy Minister of Information, told the German Press Agency (DPA) that government forces carried out "intensive shelling with heavy artillery and drones on Houthi militia positions on a number of battlefronts" yesterday.

Al-Naaman added that Houthi militants continued to target the port of Mocha in Taiz province with ballistic missiles and drones, describing the attacks as an attempt to disrupt economic activity at the vital civilian port.

According to the source, the Houthi escalation in Yemen and threats to commercial vessels, including warnings to close the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, coincided with Iran effectively halting navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, which has become a focal point of tension between Tehran and Washington amid ongoing efforts to end the war that erupted after US and Israeli strikes on Iran in late February.