Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday (September 14, 2026) that Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes across the west of the country after the Iran-backed group earlier announced it targeted military bases in the kingdom.

The group, fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government, last week seized control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become vital as the wider U.S.-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.

The Houthis said Riyadh targeted Yemen with 54 strikes over 24 hours, after the group fired dozens of drones and missiles at Saudi military facilities, prompting the Saudi civil defence to issue alerts in the southern cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.

The civil defence later issued a brief alert for Najran in southwestern Saudi Arabia without elaborating on the cause for the warning.

A Khamis Mushait resident said he heard “intense blasts” which left fires burning for a “long time”. “Honestly, we couldn’t sleep at all.”

Houthi missile attacks in western Yemen killed eight troops from Yemeni government forces, two military sources with the Aden-based administration told AFP.

The Iran-backed group’s Al-Masirah TV channel said two civilians were killed in Saudi strikes that destroyed a bridge in Taiz province, which has seen some of Yemen’s fiercest clashes in recent days.

The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains at a stalemate. But U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he was open to holding talks with Iran.

“The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage — The concept of which we are open to,” Mr. Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, Yemeni government and Houthi officials said on Monday (September 14, 2026), strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route.

The rebels deployed fighters on the islands of Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to two government officials and a Houthi official.

The Houthis took over the islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to journalists.

The capture of the islands came after the rebels last week seized the port city of Mokha and the island of Mayun, located inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, from Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.

The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday (September 13), as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighboring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast and one official conceded a “painful” defeat when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

The escalation — especially Houthi attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure and its shipping in the Red Sea — adds pressure on global oil supplies and prices, and that could give Iran leverage in its war with the United States.

As Yemen risks descending into another civil war, the United Nations estimated that more than 80,000 people in the impoverished country have been displaced by the fighting since the start of September.

The top diplomats of Iran and Saudi Arabia spoke by phone to discuss “growing insecurity” in the region, Tehran said, without mentioning recent fighting in Yemen, where the two countries support opposing sides.

Tehran militarily and financially backs Yemen’s Houthis, who for years have held large parts of the country’s north and on Thursday (September 10, 2026) seized the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha.

Riyadh has long supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government and has been carrying out airstrikes on the Houthis since they began their advance, the group has said.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have also found themselves at odds during the wider West Asia war, which saw Tehran launch strikes on Saudi oil infrastructure and U.S.-linked targets in the Gulf kingdom.

Iranian top diplomat Abbas Araghchi spoke with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan on Thursday (September 10, 2026) evening about “the escalation of tensions and the growing insecurity in the region”, according to Tehran’s foreign ministry.

The summary of the call said the two parties “emphasised the need to continue cooperation and diplomatic efforts in order to prevent the spread of tensions and reestablish stability”.

Though the ministry did not specifically mention Yemen in the readout, a separate statement addressing the fighting there insisted it was “impossible to resolve the Yemeni crisis through… military intervention”.

The Houthis have controlled Yemen’s capital Sanaa and the major port city of Hodeida for years, but in recent days have launched a new offensive pushing towards the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait, the gateway to the Red Sea.

The waterway, which links Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, has gained importance as a transit route since the start of the wider West Asia war, which saw Iran blockade the Strait of Hormuz.

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With their drones and missiles, the Houthis have been able to disrupt traffic in the Red Sea and have also sought to enforce a maritime blockade on Saudi ports, while striking oil infrastructure there.

Yemen relapsed into war in July after years of relative calm, punctured by sporadic violence and deepening poverty.

On Wednesday (September 9, 2026), the Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis said the group fired ballistic missiles and drones at several cities in southern Saudi Arabia.

Strikes on Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels wounded 73 people, a Riyadh-led coalition said on Tuesday (September 8, 2026), vowing to respond to the attacks.

Days of fighting near the Red Sea coast have left more than 300 people dead and displaced hundreds of families as the Houthis try to capture land bordering the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Houthi media Ansarollah said on Tuesday (September 8, 2026) the rebels hit targets in Saudi Arabia, including Abha International Airport, King Khalid air base and facilities belonging to state-owned oil giant Aramco in Abha and Jizan.

“The Terrorist Houthi Militia’s senseless attacks, the latest of which targeted civilian and economic sites”, resulted in “injuries to (73) civilians,” the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition said in a statement.

“The Command will also take all necessary measures and actions to respond to the sources of the threat and neutralise its danger.”

The strikes came after the Houthis accused Riyadh on Monday (September 7, 2026) of carrying out strikes around Yemen, including the deadly bombardment of a prison.

The attack on the jail in Al-Hazm in the country’s north killed 11 people and left 20 inmates missing under the rubble, rebel TV channel Almasirah quoted Hassan Saboula, director-general of civil defence in Jawf province, as saying.

Saba news agency, which is also affiliated with the Houthis, reported earlier that a child visiting the facility was among the dead.

The Houthis launched a broad offensive along frontlines on the western Red Sea coast in a bid to advance towards the Bab al-Mandab Strait, experts said.

The waterway forms the southern entrance to the Red Sea, a shipping artery that has become vital for Saudi oil exports during Tehran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz since the start of the U.S.-Iran war on Iran.

The war in Yemen between government forces and the Iran-backed Houthis reignited in July, following several years of calm.

The conflict, which has pitted the Houthis against the internationally recognised government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, has seen the rebels take over most of Yemen’s major population centres, including the capital Sanaa.

A major offensive by Yemen’s Houthis to seize control of the gateway to the Red Sea has left more than 120 people dead, sources told AFP on Friday (September 4, 2026), the country’s deadliest clashes in years.

Fighting erupted on Thursday (September 3), after the Iran-backed Houthis launched a ground assault along with rocket and drone attacks near coastal areas, vying for control of the narrow Bab al-Mandab strait at the Red Sea’s southern entrance.

Yemen, embroiled in more than a decade of civil conflict, in July became the latest country to be drawn into the West Asia war as the Houthis upended a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed government.

Since then, the Houthis have imposed a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and repeatedly attacked its ships in the Red Sea — a vital alternative route for oil exports after Iran all but halted Gulf shipments by blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

The rebels are now trying to tighten their hold over the Red Sea, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes, which they have disrupted with attacks on passing vessels since the Gaza war broke out in 2023.

The Houthi offensive aims to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab, military sources told AFP.

The rebels have seized elevated sites overlooking government positions near the Red Sea and the city of Taiz further inland, a military source and a Taiz official told AFP, requesting anonymity.

The Houthis could target ships from these elevated positions, they said.

The toll rose to 129 on Friday, according to an AFP tally compiled from several sources, up from an earlier count of 81.

A Yemeni military official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that 66 of his men had been killed, while medical and military sources close to the Houthis said at least 62 militants had died.

Another medical source said a civilian had also been killed.

Reinforcements sent

Although the Houthis do not control areas bordering Bab al-Mandab, they hold the key port city of Hodeida north of Mokha.

“They are going for Bab al-Mandab,” said Mohammed al-Basha, of the U.S.-based risk advisory Basha Report.

The Houthis want to control the hills overlooking Bab al-Mandab and Mokha before attacking the coast, a Yemeni official in Aden, the government’s base since it was ousted from the rebel-held capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

The government has sent reinforcements to Taiz from Aden on Saudi orders, he said.

“The Houthis feel that if they capture Bab al-Mandab or Mokha port they will be in a better position of power to negotiate with the government and the Saudis,” Basha added.

With Iran’s closure of Hormuz, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint has gained increased importance as a transit route for oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude.

The narrow waterway connects the Red Sea — and, via the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean — to the Indian Ocean.

In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and the government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks.

They later announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships and territory.

Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday (August 24, 2026) that their forces hit a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea with a ballistic missile, as the Iran-backed rebels pursue a maritime blockade of the kingdom.

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“The strike was accurate and direct, resulting in a fire breaking out aboard the vessel and causing a number of other ships that were present in the target area to flee,” the Houthis said in a statement.

“This targeting comes as part of the implementation of the Armed Forces’ decision to ban maritime navigation by the Saudi enemy.”

Yemen, embroiled in more than a decade of civil conflict, in July became the latest country to be dragged into the West Asia war as the Houthis upended a 2022 truce with the country’s Saudi-backed government.

The Houthi claim came hours after a British maritime agency said a tanker struck by an “unknown projectile” caught fire off Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.

“The Company Security Officer reported a tanker has been struck by [an] unknown projectile causing a fire to the vessel on the main deck,” said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations.

“All crew are safe and accounted for and no environmental impact has been reported,” it added.

The incident took place 63 nautical miles west of the Saudi city of Yanbu, the agency reported. Yanbu lies hundreds of kilometres north of Yemen.

British maritime security firm Vanguard Tech also said a Saudi-flagged vessel had been hit by a missile and caught fire.

The Houthis have been attacking the kingdom’s ships after declaring last month a maritime blockade of their Saudi foes.

Hostilities erupted in July after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane in Yemen’s capital Sanaa, setting off a spate of tit-for-tat attacks.

The Houthis have hit Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and attacked Yemeni government forces since the latest round of fighting broke out.

They have also repeatedly targeted Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and airports.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government said the Houthis fired ​six ballistic missiles at the Red Sea port of Mocha on Friday (August 14, 2026), ‌killing four civilians, amid an escalation in hostilities between ​the Iran-aligned group and its Saudi-backed opponents. The escalation comes ⁠at a time of heightened regional tensions over the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, where the Houthis have emerged as a key front, raising the ‌prospect of a return to large-scale conflict in Yemen.

The armed forces aligned with the Yemeni government said the attack ‌targeted civilian infrastructure and national assets at the port. Initial ‌reports ⁠said four civilians were killed and several fishing boats ⁠were set on fire.

The Houthis said they had attacked what they described as Saudi-backed military build-ups, weapons and warships belonging to Saudi-backed forces and “mercenaries” in Mocha ​with a large number of ballistic ‌missiles, destroying boats and weapons.

Separately, the Houthi-run SABA news agency cited a military source as saying the group had targeted an Aramco facility in the Saudi city of Najran with ‌a drone.

The source said the attack was a response ​to what it described as Saudi military aircraft entering airspace over the northeastern part of Yemen’s Saada governorate. ⁠The report did not identify the precise target or say whether it had been hit.

There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi ‌authorities or Aramco.

The reported attacks follow a rise in hostilities between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government. On Thursday (August 13), the Houthis said they had attacked an Aramco refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Jazan with two drones.

On July 20, the Houthis announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, saying it was ‌a response to what they called a Saudi siege of Yemen, an allegation ​Riyadh denies. A Saudi-led coalition responded with air strikes on what it said were Houthi military facilities in ⁠the port city of Hodeidah linked to threats against commercial shipping.

Yemen has ⁠been engulfed by conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the ‌following year. Major fighting largely subsided under a U.N.-brokered truce in 2022, but efforts to secure a lasting political settlement have ​stalled.

Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels on Monday (July 20, 2026) announced they are imposing a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia in retaliation for a blockade on Yemen and a recent attack on Sanaa International Airport, threatening another vital waterway for global shipping and raising fears of renewed conflict.

A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said in a video statement that the maritime ban against Saudi Arabia will be effective immediately, describing it as an “equation of an eye for an eye.” There were few details, but the deputy head of the Houthi media office, Nasruddin Amer, said on X that the Bab al-Mandeb strait will be closed in response to what he called Saudi Arabia’s “unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years.”

Bab el-Mandeb, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is the gateway to the Red Sea through which around 12% of the world’s trade usually passes. A fourth of global container trade transits through the 32-kilometre (20-mile)-wide strait to and from the Suez Canal.

The Houthis earlier demonstrated their ability to disrupt shipping there when they targeted ships for months over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, with over 100 vessels attacked. It is unclear whether the Houthis will resume that level of attack against neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia. The ingdom already faced pressure as it uses its East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which remains in the grip that Iran imposed shortly after the U.S. and Israel attacked it on Feb. 28. The Saudis have been sending millions of barrels of crude oil a day through the pipeline.

Saudi Arabia leads a coalition against the Houthis and imposed an air and sea blockade on Yemen in 2015. Yemen’s civil war began in 2014 when the rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen and forced the government into exile. A truce was reached in 2022.

That truce has been threatened in recent days after the Houthis said the Saudis struck the Sanaa airport in an attempt to affect a flight carrying Houthi leaders back from Iran, where they attended the funeral of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The plane landed safely at another airport.

The Houthis then launched missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia’s Abha International Airport in the most significant confrontation in years.

By allowing a direct international flight to land without the approval of the Saudi-led coalition, the Houthis sought to establish a new reality in which they could independently make decisions over Yemen’s airspace, experts told the AP.

“We affirm the right of our great people to respond to the blockade with a blockade,” Saree emphasised on Monday, adding that Houthis are prepared to confront “any foolish act committed by the reckless Saudi enemy … with a comprehensive and decisive escalation.” The Houthis are a crucial part of Iran’s so-called “Axis of Resistance,” which also includes militant groups in Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian territories.

The rebels have had a large stockpile of drones, but several Houthi members previously told the AP that the stockpile is running low after its attacks during the Israel-Hamas war. The Iran war has further impeded the flow of weapons, said the members, who at the time spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorised to talk to the media.

The U.S. and Israel responded to the Houthis’ earlier attacks on shipping with a punishing air campaign across Houthi-held areas in Yemen until a deal that saw the rebels stop their assaults.

Disrupting transit through the Bab al-Mandeb forces shipping firms to route vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, significantly increasing costs.

Yemen’s internationally-recognised government said it struck Houthi-controlled Sanaa airport on Monday (July 13, 2026), its biggest flare-up in years with the rebels, who blamed the authorities’ Saudi backers for the attack and threatened retaliation.

The government said it had wanted to prevent an Iranian plane from landing in the capital, after failing to convince a Houthi delegation that went to Tehran for the late Iranian Supreme Leader’s funeral to board a Yemenia flight instead.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree accused Saudi Arabia of “ending the de-escalation phase” and warned that “this aggression will not go unanswered or unpunished”.

The latest escalation threatens to unravel a truce that has been holding since 2022 despite expiring, and comes at a time of heightened tensions as the United States and Iran trade attacks impacting the Gulf and traffic in the Strait of Hormuz.

Yemen’s Defence ministry accused the Houthis of “allowing an Iranian plane to violate Yemeni territory; consequently, the airport runway was targeted”.