Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Saudi aircraft had carried out as many as 450 strikes during the week. Officials from Yemen’s internationally recognised government acknowledged that their forces and Saudi aircraft were attacking Houthi positions, although Riyadh had not publicly confirmed the scale of the campaign.
Saree also said the Houthis had launched drones and missiles at Yanbu, Saudi Arabia’s key Red Sea oil port, and at King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait. He gave no timing for the attacks. Saudi authorities had issued alerts across several western and southern cities on Tuesday, but reported no comparable alerts on Wednesday.
The Houthis separately claimed they had shot down a Saudi-led coalition F-15 fighter over Yemen’s Marib province with a surface-to-air missile. They offered no independently verifiable evidence, and Saudi Arabia had not confirmed the loss of an aircraft.
The escalation followed a rapid Houthi advance that has transformed the military balance in western Yemen. The group has swept through towns along the Red Sea coast, taken the port of Mocha and established control over islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, including Perim, according to Yemeni government sources and satellite imagery.
Control of terrain around the strait has raised concern over shipping through one of the world’s most important energy corridors. The Bab el-Mandeb links the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and is a key route for tankers moving between Europe, the Gulf and Asia.
Saudi Arabia is already facing pressure on its oil export system after its East-West Pipeline was knocked out by an attack blamed on Iran-aligned militias in Iraq. The line carries crude from eastern production areas to Yanbu, allowing exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where shipping has also been disrupted by the wider conflict with Iran.
Brent crude traded near $108 a barrel on Wednesday. Energy officials and traders have warned that a prolonged shutdown of the Saudi pipeline could remove a significant volume of supply from international markets, although US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said crude could resume flowing within days.
Tensions rose further after Saudi Arabia said its air defences had destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca on Tuesday before it entered restricted airspace over the holy city. Saudi coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki described any attempt to target Mecca as crossing a red line. The Houthis denied aiming at the city and accused Riyadh of using the incident for propaganda.
The United States tightened security guidance for its personnel in Saudi Arabia, barring government employees from travelling within 20 miles of the Yemen border. Washington has so far limited assistance to Saudi Arabia largely to intelligence sharing and planning support, despite Riyadh seeking broader help against missile and drone threats.
US officials also met Houthi representatives in Oman at the weekend. During those talks, the Houthis said they did not intend to attack American vessels and remained committed to a 2025 ceasefire with Washington. They also said commercial shipping would not be targeted except for Saudi-linked vessels, according to people familiar with the discussions.
The renewed fighting comes after years in which front lines in Yemen were comparatively static following a 2022 UN-brokered truce. The latest Houthi push has exposed divisions among anti-Houthi factions and forced forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognised government to regroup after losing ground.
Iran’s support for the Houthis has long included weapons technology, training and political backing, while Tehran denies directing the group’s operations. The advance gives the movement greater leverage around Red Sea routes at a time when the wider regional conflict has already constrained energy flows through Hormuz.
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