Sanaa, September 16, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed that Saudi warplanes carried out 52 airstrikes across five provinces over the past 24 hours, as cross-border hostilities between the two sides intensified.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the strikes were carried out by F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from Saudi air bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif. He claimed the attacks targeted areas in Taiz, Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Saada and Amran provinces, including what he described as schools, bridges, roads and other civilian infrastructure.
There was no immediate response from Saudi authorities to the Houthi claims. Earlier, the Saudi-led coalition said Houthi missile and drone attacks on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif had injured 13 civilians and damaged seven homes and two vehicles. The coalition said it would respond “responsibly and firmly”.
Houthi-aligned al-Masirah TV separately reported that three civilians, including two children, were killed and two others wounded in airstrikes in the Dhubab and Maqbanah districts of Taiz. It also reported further strikes on a government complex in Khadir district, though details of casualties were not immediately available.
Sarea warned that the reported Saudi strikes “will not go unanswered”, indicating the possibility of further Houthi attacks against Saudi targets.
The escalation comes amid a renewed Houthi advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The group captured the strategic port city of Mocha and the island of Mayun earlier this month, tightening its position near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a major maritime route linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
The renewed fighting has also raised concerns over shipping and humanitarian conditions. The UN refugee agency said renewed conflict had displaced more than 100,000 people inside Yemen, with thousands more fleeing by sea to Djibouti.
Yemen’s conflict erupted in late 2014 after the Houthis seized Sanaa and large parts of northern Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government.
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