The fighting continues. The Houthis reported on Sunday September 13 around fifty Saudi strikes in Yemen, particularly on their stronghold in the north of the country, a few hours after an attack claimed by these pro-Iranian fighters against a military base in the neighboring kingdom.
The Houthis, who announced a maritime blockade against Riyadh in July and targeted its oil tankers, launched a major attack on Tuesday against Saudi Arabia, an ally of the Yemeni government.
The Saudi authorities then reported dozens of injuries and the temporary shutdown of several oil installations.
“Artillery fire” reported in Saada
The Houthi movement has also inflicted significant setbacks on Yemeni government forces in recent days, seizing the historic port of Mokha and the rest of Yemen’s Red Sea coast after a lightning offensive. It has thus strengthened its hold on the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key passage for maritime traffic in the Red Sea.
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“The criminal Saudi enemy carried out 58 airstrikes in the last 24 hours, targeting the provinces of Taiz, Lahj, al-Jawf, Hajjah, al-Bayda and Saada, using F-15 aircraft that took off from the Khamis Mushait airbase,” Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Telegram.
These provinces are mostly located in the north, such as Saada, the stronghold of pro-Iranian fighters, and in the west of the country. The Houthi-affiliated Almasirah channel also reported “artillery fire” in Saada.
These strikes have so far focused mainly on the front lines, in support of Yemeni government forces, without targeting the heart of Houthi power, in particular the capital Sanaa, largely bombarded by the coalition led by Saudi Arabia between 2015 and the truce of 2022.
Riyadh has not confirmed the strikes in Yemen and communicates little on those carried out by the Houthis against the kingdom. However, it issues brief alerts almost daily regarding the risk of attacks in southern regions, near Yemen.
86,000 people displaced
On Sunday, the alerts, which concerned the city of Abha and the region near Khamis Mushait, were lifted quickly, according to Civil Defense. Earlier on Sunday, the Houthis claimed to have targeted a military base.
On Saturday evening, Saudi Civil Defense reported two injuries following the fall of a projectile fired by the Houthis in the Jizan region, also on the border.
The fighting in recent weeks in western Yemen has left hundreds dead and displaced nearly 86,000 people, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). This organization also affirmed that more than 2,000 of these displaced people had fled the country by boat since Thursday evening, towards Djibouti.
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Between 2014 and 2022, a war pitted the Houthis against pro-government forces, supported by Riyadh, causing hundreds of thousands of deaths and plunging Yemen, the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula, into a major humanitarian crisis.
Hostilities resumed in July, when the Houthis challenged Riyadh’s control of Yemeni airspace by allowing an Iranian plane to land in Yemen.
The internationally recognized government responded by striking the airport, an attack that the Houthis blame on its Saudi ally.
Yemen is the latest country to be drawn into the regional conflict triggered by the American-Israeli offensive against Iran at the end of February.
According to the American media Axios, citing American officials, American President Donald Trump refused to order strikes against the Houthis, as requested by Riyadh.
With AFP
