Meanwhile, the Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of targeting civilians in Yemen in its air strikes across the group’s territory.

Houth-run Saba news agency reported that a pre-dawn strike on a house in the Red Sea port city of Mokha on Tuesday killed six people, including two children and a woman.

Saba also said that nine detainees were killed in an attack on a prison in al-Hazm, in Jawf province, on Monday night.

The Houthis’ health ministry said two members of one family were killed in a strike on Jawf province on Monday, and that one person was killed in Taiz.

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s government has not yet commented.

Meanwhile, government-run media reported that civilians were injured in a Houthi missile attack on a market in the Mudaribah wa al-Ara district of Lahj province, about 20km (12 miles) east of Houthi-controlled territory.

Verified CCTV footage showed a munition hitting an area crowded with people and vehicles, causing a large explosion. People flee as the air is filled with dust and smoke.

There was no immediate comment from the Houthis.

The UN estimates that in all, more than 120,000 Yemenis have been displaced by the sudden surge in fighting along Yemen’s Red Sea coast.

Earlier this month, the Houthis, who had already seized most of the populated parts of Yemen, took control of Bab al-Mandab, a narrow, maritime chokepoint where the southern Red Sea flows into the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean.