Houthis claim attack on Saudi base as fighting flares with Yemeni forces

Iran-allied Houthis say drones and missiles used in attack that targeted ‘weapons depots and command and control centres’ in southern Saudi Arabia

Houthi fighters on Sunday said they used drones and missiles to attack a military base in southern Saudi Arabia as renewed fighting with Yemen’s government forces led growing numbers of civilians to flee .

The attack at the southern Sharurah base targeted “weapons depots and command and control centres that are managing the aggression against our nation and people”, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree wrote on X.

The date of the operation was not specified. Clashes have increased this week between the Iran-allied Houthis and Yemeni government forces, which are backed by Riyadh.

On Saturday, the government forces said they had struck Houthi fighters in the Red Sea city of Mocha, and later attacked other Houthi positions in the south-western part of the country.

“Air Force of the Armed Forces targeted positions and barracks of the terrorist Houthi group with three airstrikes” in the Taiz region, the Yemeni military said Sunday in a post on X.

The US news site Axios also reported that Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman twice called Donald Trump to request strikes on the Houthis last week, but that 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, 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 Middle East war.

The Houthis have recently declared their own maritime blockade of Riyadh’s Red Sea ports.

The government news agency Saba reported on Saturday that Yemeni “forces destroyed vehicles and weapons and killed members of the Houthi terrorist militia” near the port of Mocha, and quoted a spokesperson for the forces as saying they had also struck Houthi targets just outside the city.

The Houthis, meanwhile, said on Saturday evening 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 Sana’a, 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.