SANAA — Yemen’s Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets on Monday, as Iran denied any involvement in the country’s revived civil war.

The group, fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government, last week seized control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become vital as the wider US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis said they fired dozens of drones and missiles at the kingdom, prompting the Saudi Civil Defence to issue brief alerts in the neighbouring cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.

A Khamis Mushait resident told AFP he heard “intense blasts” which left fires burning for a “long time”.

“Honestly, we couldn’t sleep at all.”

The Bab al-Mandab waterway has become essential for Saudi oil exports, with Iran continuing to block the Hormuz strait as part of the Middle East war, but the Houthis have declared a maritime blockade on Riyadh.

The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains stalemated. On Monday, a proposed meeting between Gulf states and Iran over the future of Hormuz was postponed, with Tehran accusing Riyadh of using Yemen as a “pretext” to delay the talks.

Tehran has long supported the Houthis, a member of its anti-Israel “axis of resistance, including with weapons and technology, but analysts dispute the extent to which Iran is behind the renewed fighting.

“Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters on Monday, saying the Houthis are “entirely independent actors who make their decisions based on their own interests”.

Iran has previously threatened to open “new fronts”, including Bab al-Mandab, and the Houthi offensive has sent oil prices soaring once again, with the lengthy route through the Suez Canal and around Africa now the only secure route for Saudi oil to reach key Asian markets.