The United States urged the Houthis to accept an urgent ceasefire in Yemen, while the group played down the Yemeni government's announcement that it recognized the group as a major player in the country.
The US State Department said - in a statement yesterday, Wednesday - that the Houthi attack in Marib (east of Sanaa) exacerbates the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The ministry added that recent reports indicating that children were killed in Houthi attacks on Marib show the serious threat facing civilians.
She added that the Houthis must urgently accept a comprehensive nationwide ceasefire and political talks.
The Acting US Ambassador to Yemen, Kathy Westley, had strongly condemned the Houthi missile attack on a residential neighborhood in Marib on Tuesday, which killed people, including a child, and wounded 10 others.
Westley said - in a statement published by the US embassy on its Facebook page - that it is time to end the conflict in Yemen and provide relief to the Yemeni people, calling on the Houthis to accept a ceasefire and enter into negotiations.
The Houthi group had said that the recent bombing of Ma'rib targeted soldiers, not civilians.
Recently, Washington held the Houthi group most responsible for disrupting the ceasefire, and this came after the efforts made by the US and UN envoys to this end faltered.
Ahmed bin Mubarak (left) with his German counterpart at a press conference in Berlin (European)
The government's recognition of the Houthis
On the political level, too, Houthi Undersecretary of Information Nasr al-Din Amer played down the importance of the Yemeni government's declaration of recognition of the Houthis.
Amer told Al Jazeera that starting to address the issues of the humanitarian situation and the siege in Yemen must precede the rest of the details to resolve the existing crisis in the country.
Yesterday, Wednesday, Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak said that the legitimate Yemeni government recognizes the Houthis as a major party in the Yemeni equation.
During a joint press conference with his German counterpart Heiko Maas in Berlin, Ahmed bin Mubarak called for the need to continue pressure on the Houthis to stop the war and achieve peace.
The Yemeni minister described what is happening in Marib as dangerous, noting that if the government loses control of the governorate, the humanitarian repercussions will be catastrophic for millions of displaced people, as he put it.
Coalition raids and Ma'rib battles
On the ground, Houthi media said that the Saudi-led coalition launched 28 air raids on Wednesday in separate areas of the governorates of Marib, Saada and Al-Jawf.
These media added that the majority of the raids were on areas of Marib Governorate.
The new raids, which were reported by the Houthi media, come amid continuous battles on the Marib fronts.
The Houthis launched an attack months ago towards the city of Marib, the last major stronghold of the Yemeni government in the north of the country, in an effort to control it, but the Yemeni army and the coalition halted their advance.