The latest fighting follows a large-scale offensive launched by Yemen’s internationally recognised government on Monday, backed by Saudi airstrikes, to recapture territory held by the Houthis.
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An attack targeting King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on Saturday killed 12 people and injured 309 others, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation has said, amid escalating military exchanges between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi movement.
In a statement issued early Sunday, the authority said the fatalities included four Saudi citizens and eight foreign nationals: two Bangladeshis and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan.
The injured are receiving treatment at several hospitals, with some in serious condition, the authority said.
Airport operations were temporarily suspended following the attack to allow authorities to assess the damage and conduct safety checks.
The attack came as fighting intensified across Yemen, with Saudi Arabia and the Houthi movement exchanging strikes on major airports and other strategic locations.
In a statement following Saturday’s attack, the Houthi movement said it was prepared to take reciprocal measures with Saudi Arabia to ensure that airports, seaports and other facilities serving humanitarian purposes remained outside the escalating military confrontation.
However, Houthi-run Al-Masirah television reported that Saudi Arabia had launched a fresh wave of air and missile strikes across Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. The reported targets included Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held capital, areas near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait and several northern provinces.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s government forces claimed that more than 1,150 Houthi fighters had been “neutralized” and over 180 military and logistical vehicles destroyed or damaged in more than 1,900 strikes across multiple fronts during the preceding 24 hours.
The figures could not be independently verified.
Fighting has also intensified around Taiz, a city in southwestern Yemen, where advancing Houthi forces have increased pressure on government troops defending the area.
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Government military sources told Xinhua that the Houthi advances had disrupted key roads connecting Taiz with government-controlled areas in southern Yemen, as fierce clashes continued south of the city.
The latest fighting follows a large-scale offensive launched by Yemen’s internationally recognised government on Monday, backed by Saudi airstrikes, to recapture territory held by the Houthis. Some of the fiercest clashes have been concentrated around the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, a major maritime passage linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
Yemen has been embroiled in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country’s north. In 2015, a Saudi-led coalition intervened in support of the internationally recognised government, which is now based in the southern port city of Aden.
The renewed fighting marks a major escalation after a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities. The latest developments have raised fresh concerns over civilian safety, damage to critical infrastructure and the security of key international shipping routes.
