A senior Yemeni general was killed on Wednesday when Houthi rebels fired a ballistic missile at an army camp in southern Yemen, according to a military source.

"Major General Ahmed Saif al-Yafei, deputy chief of general staff, was killed along with several others when the missile hit the camp near al-Mokha city early this morning," the source, a member of the general's family who declined to be named.

The Red Sea port of Al-Mokha, close to the Bab al-Mandab shipping lane through which much of the world's oil passes, has been the scene of heavy fighting between the Iran-allied Houthis and Gulf-backed Yemeni forces fighting on behalf of president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.