Yemeni soldier, child killed in Houthi attacks

SMA NEWS – MUKALLA
A Yemeni government soldier and a child have reportedly been killed in two separate Houthi attacks.
Early on Wednesday, in the latest strike against government troops around the country, the Iran-backed Houthis launched an assault in the Yafaa region of Lahij province.
In the heavy fighting that followed, at least one Yemeni government soldier died, and several others were injured, before the attackers withdrew.
Over recent months, the militia group has repeatedly attacked government troops in the mountainous Yafae region from positions in neighboring Al-Bayda province.
The soldier’s death in Yafae came less than a day after an explosive-rigged drone launched by the Houthis toward a government checkpoint in the Hays district of the western Hodeidah province, killed a child.
The boy was reportedly gathering empty plastic bottles when the drone struck a nearby medical facility.
On Tuesday, another child was killed after he stepped on a land mine laid by the Houthis in Al-Souma district, Al-Bayda province.