SANAA — Rockets fired by Houthi militiamen killed 14 civilians, most of them children, as fighting intensified for control of Yemen's third largest city, Taiz, residents said on Monday. Fighters loyal to Yemen's President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi have been contesting control of Taiz — known as Yemen's cultural capital — with the Houthis since April. “The situation is awful and the fighting is happening on many fronts. All the hospitals have closed except for one, so there's a shortage of medical care. Two rockets fell on the Deluxe neighborhood, killing 14 people, among them women and children,” Taiz resident Abdul Aziz Mohammed said. “Taiz is being devastated.” Houthis took control of Yemen's capital Sanna last September. Arab countries intervened in the conflict in March to halt a Houthi advance into the south. A Saudi Army general was killed in cross-border fire from Yemen, the armed forces announced Sunday, making him the highest-ranking officer to be killed in border attacks since March. Ma. Gen. Abdulrahman Bin Saad Al-Shahrani, commander of the 18th Brigade, was inspecting troops deployed "on the front lines along the southern region when the post came under random enemy fire," the military said in a statement. Shahrani was wounded in the attack and hospitalized, it said. Earlier, a Saudi border guard was killed on Saturday by a rocket fired from Yemeni anti-government rebels that hit a border post in the Kingdom's Jazan region. More than 50 people, most of them troops, have been killed along the Saudi-Yemen border since the Riyadh-led military coalition began air strikes on Iran-backed rebels. — Agencies
