SANAA, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Saudi airstrikes hit a residential house in Yemen's strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha in southwestern Taiz province early Tuesday, killing six people and wounding eight others, Houthi-run media reported.
According to the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV channel, "Saudi aggression warplanes" carried out three airstrikes on a civilian residence in Mocha on Tuesday, killing six people, including two children and a woman, and wounding eight others.
Al-Masirah also aired footage showing children it said were among those killed and wounded in the strikes.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the Houthi report.
The strikes came amid an escalating confrontation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, with Saudi airstrikes targeting Houthi-held areas across Yemen and the group launching missiles and drones at targets deep into the kingdom.
Mocha has become a major flashpoint in the renewed fighting. Houthi forces seized the port city on Sept. 10 before advancing south through Dhubab and taking Mayyun Island in the heart of the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Sept. 11, forcing Yemen's government forces to pull back toward defensive positions farther south.
Fighting has since intensified across the rugged highlands overlooking Bab al-Mandab, where government forces are battling to halt further Houthi advances and regain strategic positions along the vital shipping artery linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean.
Yemen's conflict erupted in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government. ■
