Iran-backed Houthi rebels clash with Yemeni government forces and other Mideast developments

Clashes between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and government forces in Yemen raged overnight Thursday as renewed violence continues to spread and feed growing fears that the country’s civil war could reignite and create a new front in the Middle East war.

Here’s a look at the latest developments in the Iran war and the wider Middle East. Full coverage can be found here.

Yemeni soldier killed in clashes with Iranian-backed Houthi rebels

At least one government soldier was killed and another critically wounded in clashes between Houthi rebels and the military in the mountainous province of Taiz, Yemeni military officials told The Associated Press.

The fighting came as part of a spate of recent attacks by the Houthis on government-held areas across the country. Dozens of government troops have been killed in attacks since last week, the Yemeni military said.

Elsewhere, several tribal leaders in the central province of Marib said the Yemeni army artillery targeted overnight Houthi movements.

The Houthis have been hitting government-held areas with drones and missiles, saying they have been targeting military forces and warehouses. They have also been attacking oil facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports the Yemeni government, and the kingdom’s shipping in the Red Sea.

On Tuesday, they hit a commercial ship in the Bab el-Mandeb strait, killing six people.

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively shut down by Iran, there has been a renewed focus on the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb strait at Yemen’s southern tip, which is an alternate route for Saudi Arabia to ship its oil.

Three Pakistanis were among the dead in the ship attack, and Indonesia’s Foreign Ministry said Thursday that one of its nationals was missing after the attack and two were wounded.

Strait of Hormuz oil spill causing growing environmental concerns

Iran was working to clean up an oil spill off Qeshm Island, which lies off the Iranian mainland in the Strait of Hormuz, highlighting the environmental damage being caused by the ongoing conflict with the United States and Israel.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei suggested Iran should receive compensation for its efforts to control the spill, writing on X that anyone who “benefits from commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz is obligated, both legally and morally, to take action to compensate for — and remedy — the environmental damage.”

Images distributed by Iran’s semiofficial news agency ISNA showed oil damage to Qeshm’s beaches.

Iran has not said how the spill was caused, but the firm TankerTrackers.com posted satellite images on X saying it appears an Iranian attack on a bulk carrier off Oman was behind it. The spillage then drifted across the strait to Iran, the company said.

In his post on X, Baghaei asked who should be responsible for compensation.

“The countries that benefit from the cheap energy exported from our region? The shipping insurance companies?” he asked. “Or the aggressors and their partners who have turned the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman into an arena for military operations and testing of highly destructive weapons?”

Oman is in the middle of responding to another spill in the Arabian Sea, coming from a tanker grounded off its southern coast, well away from the Strait of Hormuz. No party has claimed responsibility for the incident and the cause of a reported explosion has not been revealed.

Environmental experts said an oil spill has been spreading quickly in recent weeks from the partially submerged tanker off the shores of Qabiliyah Island, endangering a marine protected area there.