The Iranian-backed Houthi militias targeted an arms depot in Marib city on Monday leaving 12 casualties, according to medical sources in the oil province, which includes the largest number of displaced people in the country.

Military sources suggested that the Houthi bombing is a ballistic missile fired by the militias at a weapons and ammunition depot in one of Marib’s neighborhoods.

The sources stated that the flying shrapnel from the explosion killed four civilians, including two children, while eight others were wounded, including women and children.

The media center of the Yemeni armed forces accused the militias of being responsible for the attack and reported the explosion in a weapons depot in the third military region

The new Houthi attack sparked rage among Yemenis who called for ending the truce and resuming military operations to get rid of the militias.

Meanwhile, Houthis denied they were responsible for the attack.

On Tuesday, local sources also reported the assassination of advisor to the defense minister Brig. Gen. Mohammed al-Jaradi and his bodyguard outside the city of Marib.

Their bodies were found at al-Wadi district, east of Marib city, and no official details of the assassination were revealed.

Although no one has claimed responsibility for the killing, Houthi sleeper cells in Marib are widely viewed as being behind the attack.

This military escalation comes in line with the stalled UN efforts to renew the truce in Yemen that expired on Oct. 8 due to the Houthi intransigence.

The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, seeks to revive the collapsed truce. He is scheduled to brief the Security Council after about two weeks on the latest developments and on the outcome of his visits to Muscat and Riyadh as part of the efforts to renew and expand the truce.