Europe Asia News

According to CCTV, Yemen’s Houthis announced that they targeted the Sharhurah military base in southern Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the attacks targeted weapons depots and command-and-control centers directing military operations against Yemen. Sarea claimed that the operation was a response to ongoing Saudi military activities against Yemen.

Sarea said numerous ballistic missiles and drones were used in the attacks and claimed that the operations were “precise and direct.” He also warned that future Houthi operations would be “more intense and larger” and would target Saudi territory.

Sarea claimed that Saudi warplanes carried out 129 airstrikes in 7 Yemeni provinces over the past 48 hours.

Sarea said the attacks targeted oil-rich Marib in the northeast, Hodeidah on the Red Sea coast, as well as the northern provinces of Al-Jawf, Saada, Amran and Hajjah. He said F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets took off from Saudi military bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif.

Sarea said the attacks “will not go unanswered or unpunished.”

Saudi Civil Defense also announced on Saturday that 2 people were injured after a projectile launched by the Houthis fell in Al-Tuwal province in the Jizan region.

Civil Defense teams were reported to have responded to the scene, while a mosque, several buildings and vehicles were damaged in the attack. Civil Defense stressed that targeting civilian areas constitutes a clear violation of international humanitarian law.

Yemeni government forces, meanwhile, said on Saturday that they had targeted Houthi members and vehicles in the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha, which the Houthis had captured on Thursday.

Following the capture of Mocha, Houthi forces were reported to have advanced south toward Dhubab and taken control of Mayun Island on Friday to strengthen their positions around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Mayun Island, also known as Perim, lies in the middle of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and divides the strategic waterway into two channels. The strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, is one of the key maritime routes between Asia and Europe via the Suez Canal.

The latest clashes are considered one of the most serious escalations in Yemen since a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted large-scale fighting.

The conflict in Yemen began after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of the country’s north in late 2014, while the Saudi-led coalition intervened militarily in 2015 to support Yemen’s internationally recognized government.