Houthi prisoners rescued from detention centres run by pro-Yemeni government forces, walk after their arrival from the Red Sea coast, following an offensive by the Iran-aligned Houthis making advances towards the south along Yemen’s coast, in Sanaa, Yemen, on September 12, 2026.
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces said on Saturday (September 12, 2026) that they had struck Iran-allied Houthi fighters in the Red Sea city of Mocha, as the number of civilians forced to flee the renewed fighting soared.
U.S. news site Axios reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman had twice called U.S. President Donald Trump to request American strikes on the Houthis last week but the request was rejected.
The ongoing clashes follow a week-long Houthi offensive that culminated in the group capturing the remainder of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and several strategic islands, and cementing their hold on the Bab al-Mandab Strait at the sea’s southern entrance.
The waterway has become an important artery for Saudi Arabian oil exports after Iran largely cut off shipments through the Gulf with its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the war in West Asia. The Houthis have recently declared their own maritime blockade of Riyadh’s Red Sea ports.
The government news agency Saba reported on Saturday (September 12, 2026) that Yemeni “forces destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed members of the Houthi terrorist militia” near the port of Mocha, and quoted a spokesman for the forces as saying they had also struck Houthi targets just outside the city.
The Houthis, meanwhile, said on Saturday evening (September 12, 2026) that over the past 48 hours, “Saudi enemy aircraft conducted 129 airstrikes” on areas under their control.
Yemen’s civil war, which began in 2014 with the Houthi capture of the capital Sanaa, had been dormant since a ceasefire in 2022 but roared back to life in July.
Saudi Arabia first entered the war on the side of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in 2015 and continues to support the Aden-based administration.
On Saturday night (September 12, 2026), Saudi authorities said a Houthi projectile fell in an area near the border, hours after issuing alerts warning of the risk of possible attacks. The civil defence directorate said the incident resulted “in two injuries and material damage to a mosque, several buildings, and vehicles”.
‘Not even a shelter’
The Yemeni civil war uprooted millions of people, and the latest fighting has led even more to flee their homes.
The fall of Mocha to the Houthis on Thursday (September 10, 2026) drove many residents to Aden, where the internationally recognised government is based.
One of the displaced, Abdulali al-Rajihi, said the Houthis “told us: ‘Leave, scatter, you have half an hour'”. “We fled wearing the clothes on our backs. And we took our children, as much as we could manage.”
Saddam Ali escaped from Al-Waziyah with his 11 children and a few possessions crammed into a small pick-up truck. He said he hadn’t found a single free house in the city, “not even a shelter”.
The UN’s migration agency said on Saturday (September 12, 2026) that, since July, 76,000 people had fled the fighting, a figure that had quadrupled since last week. It said it was providing support but warned that “needs are far outpacing what we can deliver”.
“The situation is deteriorating by the day,” it added.
The renewed fighting in Yemen has killed more than 500 people, according to sources on both sides.
Published – September 13, 2026 02:03 am IST
