Saudi airstrikes kill 3, including 2 children, in Taiz, Houthis say

A Houthi official said Tuesday that Saudi airstrikes killed three people, including two children, in Yemen’s Taiz province. The Associated Press could not independently verify the claim, the official did not say what the warplanes had targeted, and the figure was not attributed to any other source.

Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said in a post on X on Tuesday that the strikes killed three people, including two children, in Taiz.

Al-Asbahi said two other people were injured in the strikes.

The Houthi claim comes as Iran-backed Houthi rebels have seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea, bolstering their ability to control a key shipping route.

The Houthis’ latest seizures follow their capture of the Red Sea port of Mokha and a strategic island last week.

Iran has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz since the opening days of the war with the United States. The Saudis have since used the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which leads out of the Red Sea, for crude oil exports.

“Attacks on civilian crews carried out deliberately or recklessly are war crimes,” Niku Jafarnia, a Yemen and Bahrain researcher at Human Rights Watch, said.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday that at least three Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden between July 20 and Aug. 24 could amount to war crimes. The rights group said the Houthis claimed to have attacked at least nine vessels over a month, including two Saudi-flagged vessels, a Tanzania-flagged vessel and a Dominica-flagged vessel.

The Houthi attacks on Saudi-linked shipping began in mid-July. The Houthis say the strikes are retaliation for a Saudi-led coalition blockade on Houthi-held areas in Yemen.

The rights group urged the Houthis to “immediately and unconditionally end all unlawful attacks on civilian ships.”

China’s Foreign Ministry said Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will visit on Wednesday and meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.