Anis al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the health ministry under Houthi administration, has confirmed the death toll of 53, further detailing the inclusion of "five children and two women" and reporting 98 injured.

The United States and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen are both vowing escalation after the U.S. launched airstrikes to deter the rebels from attacking military and commercial vessels on one of the world’s busiest shipping corridors.

The US and others have long accused Iran of providing military aid to the Houthis, and the US Navy has seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weaponry it said were bound for the militant group, which controls Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and the country's north.