A Houthi attack on the port town of Makha could impact a UN-mediated ceasefire in the Hodeida district. Makha is said to be a main entry point for humanitarian aid to Yemen.

Officials within the internationally-backed government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in Yemen told the Associated Press (A.P.) that Iran-linked Houthi rebels fired several missiles on a port town, killing at least eight people, including three civilians on Wednesday.

A spokesman, Wadah Dobish, for the government-led forces along the Western Yemeni coast told the A.P. that at least four missiles fired by the Houthis hit warehouses that belong to government-allied forces known as the Giants Brigades in the town of al-Makha.

According to Dobish, government forces were able to intercept at least three other missiles. He added that explosives-laden drones, were used in the Houthis’ attack on Makha.

At least three drones took part in the latest attack, causing huge blasts in the area. Some residential locations were set ablaze because of the attack, Dobish told the Associated Press on Thursday.

According to Al Jazeera, media affiliates with the Giant Brigades posted multiple videos and images online of large fires in the area. Additionally, a statement released by the government forces in the western coastal region confirmed that the recent Houthi attack caused the injury of at least 12 people, mostly fighters.

The statement also read that a refugee camp and a hospital run by the Doctors Without Borders medical organization were struck in the attack.

This latest Houthi attack on the port town of Makha could impact a UN-mediated ceasefire in the Hodeida district. Makha is said to be a main entry point for humanitarian aid to Yemen, where 5 years of violence has caused a devastating humanitarian crisis plagued by famine.

Fighting in Yemen began five years ago when Houthi rebels took control of large parts of the country, including the capital Sanaa, in late 2014. Mass protests and the Houthi rebel group forced the Yemeni government of President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi from power in 2015. Hadi is now reportedly residing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The civil war has its roots in the 2011 Arab Spring, which led to a 2011 Yemen uprising that eventually forced the end of the 32-year-long regime of Yemen’s late president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. The uprising grew into a military conflict in 2014 and has since caused the death of thousands of people and the displacement of hundreds of thousands more.