Yemen fighting surges near Red Sea as Houthis strike Saudi Arabia

Yemen's government launched new strikes on Houthi positions after losing ground on the Red Sea coast, while the rebels fired drones and missiles at Saudi Arabia. The escalation has displaced thousands, rattled a key shipping route and raised fears of a broader war.

In Short

• More than 82,000 people have been displaced since early September fighting
• Saudi border areas sounded sirens as projectiles injured two civilians
• Government-allied forces reported over 500 fighters killed on western front

The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday, with government forces launching attacks on Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and the Houthis firing into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen's government. The Yemeni government said it would send more forces to the Red Sea coast after last week's loss of the port city of Mokha and an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route.

The renewed fighting has displaced more than 82,000 people since the start of September, according to the United Nations migration agency. The escalation, particularly Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, has added pressure on global oil supplies and prices.

A woman who fled the town of Khawkha in Hodeida province along the Red Sea said a mortar shell fell nearby as she escaped in the middle of the night, shortly before the town was captured by the Houthis. "I saw with my own eyes cars and buses burning, and bodies of children and women were lying on the road in a horrific scene," she said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern for her and her family's safety.

Saudi authorities sounded sirens on Sunday afternoon in the southern city of Abha and in Khamis Mushait province, warning residents to take shelter from possible incoming fire. Both areas have been repeatedly attacked by the Houthis in recent weeks.

The Houthis said they used drones and missiles to target Saudi Arabia, including a military base just across the border with Yemen. Houthi military spokesperson Brig Gen Yahya Saree did not provide evidence or say when the attack took place. Saudi civil defence said overnight that a projectile fell in another area near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings. It blamed the Houthis. Saudi Arabia did not announce any new attacks targeting the rebels.

The Houthis have been targeting Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping as part of what they describe as a blockade, though they have said they do not intend to threaten commercial shipping of other countries.

The National Resistance, a force allied with the government and previously in control of coastal areas, said more than 500 government fighters were killed on the west coast over the past four weeks. It was the first comprehensive toll released by the force. It also said more than 1,000 Houthis had been killed in Hodeida and Taiz provinces. A Houthi spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Yemen, home to more than 40 million people, faces the risk of sliding back into a wider civil war. The country's internationally recognised government and Saudi Arabia have been fighting the Houthis for 12 years, though a ceasefire that began in 2022 had mostly halted the fighting. A senior government official said government forces would return to the Red Sea coast and fight back. People fleeing the Houthi advance told The Associated Press they saw forces withdrawing and telling people to run.

Sultan al-Arada, a member of the ruling presidential leadership council, described the collapse of government forces in Mokha and elsewhere on Yemen's west coast as "painful and regrettable". In a televised interview aired late on Saturday, he said the forces "are currently regrouping and will return to the battle". On Sunday, Rashad al-Alimi, who heads the presidential council, sought to play down the defeats as "incidental", according to comments carried by the state-run SABA news agency. He said the government "will remain clear and fixed on the goal of retrieving (state) institutions and of reclaiming sovereignty over all national territories".

On Sunday, the Yemeni military said it carried out airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and other areas in Taiz province. The Houthis reported strikes by Saudi-backed forces in Taiz province and artillery shelling in Saada province, a Houthi stronghold on Yemen's northern border with Saudi Arabia.

The Houthi advance has brought the group to within 32 kilometres of the US military base in Djibouti across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The base is the main US military facility in Africa and Djibouti also hosts bases belonging to China, France and Japan. The International Organisation for Migration said more than 2,000 Yemenis have reached Djibouti as they fled across the water. Djibouti's Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas M Dawaleh said on X that the country's navy, coast guard and other specialised agencies were carrying out rescue operations and providing emergency assistance.

The UN migration agency said the displaced in Yemen were in urgent need as fighting spread. Ahmad al-Masawi, director of the Al Salam camp in the southern port city of Aden, said, "The displaced people are in a very bad condition. They left their homes quickly without any clothing or anything. They are crammed in camps, houses and even on roads." Hussein Haydara, sitting outside a shelter while his children waited to be assigned a tent, said he was worried about the distance from schools, hospitals and markets, and about how the family would survive in the coming weeks or months. Haydara, who had also fled when the Houthis took over his home in Hodeida in 2015, said, "With the first displacement, we had time to plan things but this time we were forced to escape all of a sudden. One could hardly take their children and the lightest stuff possible."

As the fighting widened, Yemen's government vowed to send more troops to the Red Sea coast, the Houthis claimed fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia, and thousands of people displaced by the violence continued to search for safety and shelter.

With PTI Inputs

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