Sanaa: Heavy fighting continues outside the city of Taiz with reports indicating a Saudi airstrike on a shopping centre in the city has left seven dead and many more wounded, according to Houthi sources.

Taiz is currently under the control of the Saudi backed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC), which is Yemen's officially recognised government, but recent Houthis advances in the west of the country have left PLC forces reeling and increased the pressure on Taiz.

The city is strategically located in central Yemen and capturing it would allow the Houthis control of the roadway connecting Sanaa, which is currently under their administration, to the port city of Aden, which is the PLC capital.

Houthis officials said the Saudi Air Force had committed an "abominable crime," saying it was deliberately targeting civilians.

In a statement posted online, Houthis spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of launching two air raids that hit the market, saying that blood was "unjustly and aggressively spilled."

Fighting around Taiz has escalated since the Houthis began a strategic manoeuvre that allowed them to capture the Red Sea city of Mocka before taking the entirety of the Yemeni Red Sea coast as well as Mayun Island, which sits in the heart of the Bab el Mandeb strait, which connects the Indian Ocean to the Red Sea and is one of the most important shipping lanes in the world, handling as much as 15 percent of global shipping annually.

The conflict in Yemen has taken on increased significance since the war between the US and Iran began in February and oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to record lows. Saudi Arabia began shipping greater quantities of oil through its Red Sea ports as a result, but in August Houthi forces said they would target Saudi flagged vessels in the Red Sea in retaliation for an attack on Sanaa airport, reducing shipments.

Saudi backed forces have called for a general mobilisation against the Houthis, urging men to enlist, but with more than 125,000 people displaced by the latest fighting and Yemens critical telecommunications infrastructure badly damaged, it is unclear if such a call will raise appropriate forces to stop the Houthi advance.

"I call upon the sons of our great people to engage in general mobilisation and national mobilisation, to rally around their armed and security forces," said Rashad al Alimi, who is supreme commander of the PLC Armed Forces, in a televised speech.

The US recently declined to conduct airstrikes on Houthis positions in Yemen, despite Saudi urgings, even as indirect negotiations with Iran continued on the sidelines of the recently concluded UN General Assembly.

The UN says it is providing humanitarian assistance while the Security Council recently issued a statement condemning the "ongoing Houthi military escalation in Yemen and expressing "grave concern at reports of civilians killed and injured."

"Civilians are now bearing the brunt of this latest upsurge in fighting," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, in a statement.