CAIRO (AP) — Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a series of deadly attacks this week, escalating the conflict between them and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces and raising fears of a wider regional conflagration. Fewer tankers have passed through the strait since this week’s attacks, according to shipping data published by the analytics firm Kpler this week. “The escalation is directly connected to regional developments,” she wrote in an analysis for the nonprofit DAWN on Friday. The group doesn’t control the part of Yemen’s coastline along Bab el-Mandeb but holds territory less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) away. The Houthis say closing Bab el-Mandeb to Saudi traffic aims to break the coalition’s blockade.