On Monday morning, the Ansar Allah Houthi group targeted military infrastructure in Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles and drones.
In a statement on his Telegram channel, official spokesman Yahya Saree said that the operation targeted “military facilities and infrastructure, including military aircraft hangars, radars, runways, ammunition stores, and other targets at the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait.”
Saudi state television reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met on Monday with the Commander of US Central Command, Admiral Brad Cooper, and discussed with him the latest regional developments, in light of the escalation of attacks launched by the Yemeni Houthi Ansar Allah group on the Kingdom.
This meeting comes days after three informed sources told Reuters that the Crown Prince requested military assistance from US President Donald Trump to confront the Houthis, which was rejected by the US President, according to a report issued by Axios.
In this context, the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on Monday, denied any interference in the war in Yemen, after the Houthis took control of more territory.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ismail Baghaei said in a press conference that "Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs," stressing that the Houthis are "completely independent and make their decisions according to their own interests."
The Yemeni armed forces in the internationally recognized government announced that they had regained sites "infiltrated" by the Houthis west of Taiz, noting their "advancement towards new areas."
This came according to what was published by the Yemeni News Agency (Saba), affiliated with the internationally recognized government, and the agency quoted a military source as saying, “The armed forces regained positions overlooking the Jardad area in the Al-Shamaytain District, and advanced towards the Gail Bani Omar area, as part of ongoing operations aimed at expelling the Houthi militias from the governorate.”
Yemeni forces launched raids targeting Houthi "gatherings", which led to "the destruction of a number of military vehicles and the explosion of a stock of medium weapons ammunition, in addition to the killing of at least ten militants," according to the agency.
This comes as the Yemeni government, supported by Riyadh, pledged to strengthen its forces on the Red Sea coast, amid the intensification of the conflict and the exchange of attacks with the Houthis.
The Saudi Civil Defense issued an early warning on Monday, in anticipation of a potential danger in four cities in the south of the Kingdom. The warning included Najran, Khamis Mushait, Jizan, and Abha. He later announced that the warning had been lifted after indicating that "the danger had passed."
In the markets, oil prices jumped by more than two percent on Monday, after new attacks launched by the Houthis on Saudi Arabia and Iranian attacks on ships in the Gulf exacerbated concerns about supplies following the closure of a major Saudi oil pipeline.
In a related context, Houthi media reported on Sunday that Saudi Arabia launched strikes on Saada Governorate, their main stronghold in northern Yemen.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah Channel said that two raids targeted Saada Governorate, while artillery shelling targeted the Munabbih border district in the same governorate.
The military spokesman for the Houthis, Yahya Saree, accused Saudi Arabia of launching “58 air strikes during the past 24 hours targeting the governorates of Taiz, Lahj, Al-Jawf, Hajjah, Al-Bayda, and Saada, using F15 aircraft that took off from the Khamis Mushait air base,” in a post on the X platform.
On Sunday, the Houthis announced that they had attacked, with drones and missiles, a military base in Najran, southern Saudi Arabia, in what they described as a “qualitative military operation.”
The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Saree, wrote on the X platform that the attack on the base in the Saudi town of Sharurah targeted “weapons stores and command and control rooms that manage the aggression against our country and our people.”
The Yemeni government announced the implementation of air strikes against Houthi sites in various regions.
She said in a statement, on Saturday, that "the Armed Forces aircraft targeted with three air strikes the sites and barracks of the terrorist Houthi group, in the Black Hill and Jabal al-Moneim on the Dhabab Front."
It added that its forces "destroyed military equipment and eliminated Iranian-backed Houthi fighters, in strikes on the coastal city of Mokha, which the rebels took control of this week."
The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights, affiliated with the internationally recognized government, spoke of the killing of 150 civilians and the injury of more than 200 others, in addition to the displacement of about 85,000 people since September 3 as a result of what it described as “widespread violations” by the Houthis.
While the International Organization for Migration spoke of more than two thousand people who left Yemen by sea since Thursday evening, heading to Djibouti.
The Ansar Allah Houthi group completed its control of the western coast of Yemen on the Red Sea last Friday. It also took control of the four islands in the Bab al-Mandab region, a vital maritime corridor whose importance has increased for Saudi Arabia as a corridor for exporting its oil, since Tehran closed the Strait of Hormuz after the outbreak of war between it and Washington.
"Displacement crisis"
While Yemen is on the verge of a new civil war, United Nations estimates indicate that more than 80,000 Yemenis have been displaced since the beginning of this September.
The Yemenis, who number more than 40 million people, fear sliding back into the civil war that has killed about 150,000 and left many on the brink of famine in one of the worst humanitarian disasters the world has ever known.
The International Organization for Migration said on Sunday that more than 82,000 people in Yemen have been displaced since the beginning of this September.
Ahmed Al-Masawi, director of Al-Salam camp in the city of Aden in the south of the country, said, “The displaced are in a very bad condition, and they left their homes in a hurry without taking anything with them,” appealing to international organizations to provide relief.
The International Organization for Migration, affiliated with the United Nations, warned of "a displacement crisis that is worsening at a rapid pace in Yemen and developing hour after hour."
Djibouti authorities announced, on Saturday, that about 1,400 people fled from Yemen to Djibouti within 24 hours.
A third Yemeni refugee said: "We fled the war and were being attacked from every direction. We left with our children. We came to this country to be more dispersed than we were. We are now living in a tragic situation. There are no homes, no aid, and no organizations to intervene for us. We live under trees and in the valleys. We cannot even find water to drink. And our children are in a tragedy. They suffer from malnutrition and diseases."
