Yemen's government forces and the Houthi rebel movement are accusing each other's backers of carrying out an attack on the al-Hadara market in Taiz governorate, a strike both sides say left dozens of people dead or wounded.
Colonel Majed al-Nazili, a spokesperson for the Yemeni government forces, said the Houthis hit the market with ballistic missiles on Friday, inflicting dozens of civilian casualties. He described the Iran-backed group as terrorist, said the attack amounted to a war crime and demanded that those responsible be held accountable.
The Houthis offered a sharply different account, blaming Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen's internationally recognised government. The group said three Saudi air strikes hit the market, killing at least 30 civilians and wounding eight others.
The Ministry of Health and Environment in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital held by the Houthis, called the alleged strike a horrific crime committed by Riyadh. It urged an independent international investigation into what it described as the systematic targeting of civilians by Saudi Arabia.
Al Jazeera said it was unable to independently confirm either version of events, and the Saudi-led coalition had not issued any response to the accusations.
Al Jazeera correspondent Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa, said clashes have been continuing in the al-Waziiya district, where the market is situated. The district is under the control of the Houthis, who also go by the name Ansar Allah, Arabic for Supporters of God. Mawry said the Saudi-led coalition has been bombing the area daily in an effort to seize the district and its strategic mountain range. Whoever controls the al-Waziiya district, he noted, controls the majority of the western Red Sea coastal line.
Separately, the Yemeni army announced it had retaken several positions across Taiz governorate on Friday, among them the village of al-Nidani, Shaab al-Sarari, much of the Sanamat area and the Ribat al-Qarn area in Dhi al-Barh. The military said government forces also laid siege to the entrances of the al-Sarari area.
While the Houthis hold large parts of the governorate, the city of Taiz itself remains in government hands. The city has been under a Houthi siege for 30 days, affecting hundreds of thousands of residents. The United Nations has repeatedly warned of a catastrophe there as food and medicine supplies run increasingly short.
The violence comes about a month after Yemen's internationally recognised government launched Operation Dawn of Yemen on October 5, a campaign aimed at capturing territory from Houthi fighters. Since the offensive began, neither government-held areas nor Saudi Arabia have been spared Houthi missile fire. The rebels have launched missiles and drones into the kingdom on a daily basis, striking oil facilities and disrupting air traffic.
