Yemenis brandish weapons and chant slogans during a rally in solidarity with Palestinians and in condemnation of Israel and the US, in the Houthi-run capital Sanaa on July 25, 2025. Mohammed Huwais, AFP
An attack by Yemeni Houthi rebels late on Thursday wounded 11 people in southern Saudi Arabia, a Riyadh-led coalition said, the highest toll in the kingdom in more than four years of conflict.
Iran-backed Houthis have stepped up strikes on Saudi Arabia and Yemen's internationally recognised government since last month to support Tehran in its war with the United States.
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Casualties in Thursday's attack included seven Saudis, two Egyptians, a Yemeni and a Pakistani, coalition spokesman General Turki al-Maliki said in a statement carried by the official Saudi news agency.
The attack was carried out in the Najran region, on the border with Yemen, he added.
Saudi Arabia has been leading a military coalition supporting Yemen's government against the Houthis since 2015.
Earlier on Thursday, the Houthi rebels had killed at least 58 Yemeni government troops in missile and drone attacks on military positions in central and eastern Yemen, according to a military source.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the strikes targeted government forces in response to what he described as a Saudi-backed military buildup.
Yemen's defense ministry vowed to respond "at the appropriate place and time".
Yemen, already battered by more than a decade of war, has increasingly been drawn into the regional confrontation centred on Iran.
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The Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, abandoned a largely successful 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government after welcoming a direct Iranian flight to the rebel-held capital and later announcing a maritime blockade of Saudi ports.
The rebels have since intensified attacks on government forces and Saudi-linked targets.
Last month, they killed 16 troops aligned with the government south of the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, according to medical sources.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
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