Saudi troops have conducted some 40 airstrikes in the latest bout of military escalation in Yemen, the country’s Iran-backed Houthis have claimed. The bombardments are in direct response to recent Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis, who control Sana’a, said the Saudi military, led by the Ministry of Defense, ordered its air force to make those “extensive strikes” during the period of several hours. Aerial operations specifically targeted Houthis’ positions in the governorates of Taiz, Al-Jawf, Marib, and Hodeida in Yemen.

This latest round of skirmishing adds to the already complex U.N.-brokered international peace process. The escalating strikes by the Iran-backed rebel group and the Government of Saudi Arabia, with neither side holding back, have the potential to significantly exacerbate the instability in the region and undermine fragile ceasefire efforts.

The Special Envoy office of the Secretary-General continued to try to reach a peace deal in Yemen but has not yet succeeded in stopping the conflict in the country that has been going on for the last two months. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) is also observing how military escalation has negatively affected the civilian population in the heavily bombarded regions in Yemen.