Yemen's Houthi group said on Sunday that Saudi warplanes had launched 58 airstrikes across six provinces of the war-ravaged Arab country over the past 24 hours, as the fighting between the group and the Yemeni government forces is escalating on multiple fronts.
In a statement on social media platform X, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the strikes stretched across much of Yemen, hitting Taiz in the southwest, Lahj in the south, Al-Jawf and Saada in the north, Hajjah in the northwest, and Al-Bayda in the country's central region.
Sarea said F-15 fighter jets carried out the strikes after taking off from the King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, a southwestern Saudi city near the Yemeni border, describing the bombardment as Saudi "aggression."
Saudi Arabia has yet to comment on the Houthi claims, and casualties from the claimed strikes remain unclear.
Also on Sunday, a Houthi military official said the group freed 210 of its members held by the government forces after seizing a prison in the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha in Taiz province.
The claim came amid a sweeping Houthi offensive launched on Sept 3 that rapidly redrew front lines along Yemen's Red Sea coast, capturing several government-held areas in Hodeidah and neighboring Taiz provinces.
The Houthis captured the strategic port of Mocha on Thursday, pushed south into the Bab al-Mandab area on Friday, and seized Mayun Island at the heart of the strait, tightening their grip on the vital shipping chokepoint linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
The group subsequently advanced farther south toward Lahj province, bringing the fighting closer to Aden, the seat of Yemen's internationally recognized government.
Meanwhile, Yemen's government forces said on Sunday that more than 500 soldiers were killed and about 1,500 others wounded in month-long battles with the Houthis along the western coast.
In a statement carried by Al-Joumhouriya TV, the government's National Resistance Forces said the casualties were recorded between Aug 9 and Sept 10, while claiming that more than 1,000 Houthi members were killed and thousands wounded. The figures could not be independently verified.
Yemen's conflict erupted in late 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognized government.
The decade-long civil war and the recent fighting have caused a severe humanitarian crisis in the country.
The International Organization for Migration's (IOM) said on Sunday that displacement in Yemen has now reached 85,818 people, up sharply in recent days as the fighting escalates rapidly along the West Coast, forcing families to flee their homes.
The figure was nearly 10,000 higher than Saturday's. Taiz Province remains the hardest hit, with 9,280 households, or nearly 56,000 people, displaced, the IOM said, adding that many have been displaced many times.
Saudi warplanes launch 58 strikes across Yemen in 24 hrs: Houthi
The escalating tensions between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi group reflect a broader strategic contest over key maritime routes and regional security, with the Houthis group seeking to put additional pressure on Saudi Arabia while avoiding a wider confrontation, said a Chinese expert on the Middle East.
Zhang Chuchu, deputy director of the Middle East Studies Center at Fudan University in Shanghai, said in a recent interview the Houthis' efforts to restrict access around strategic maritime chokepoints are aimed in part at coordinating with Iran to create pressure on Saudi Arabia from two directions.
"At this time, one of the purposes of the Houthi armed group's efforts to control the straits is to join hands with Iran to put Saudi Arabia under dual pressure. We know that, amid the frequent disruptions in shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, part of Saudi Arabia's oil transportation would become more dependent on the western coast's Yanbu Port and routes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. If Saudi Arabia's oil transportation is obstructed from both sides, it would face huge economic losses. The Mocha and Hanish Islands are key chokepoints along international shipping routes. By taking control of these strategic high points, the Houthi armed group not only seeks to reduce the opponent's strongholds, but also hopes to gain the ability to influence the security of the southern Red Sea at any time. However, during its operations, the Houthi armed group has repeatedly stressed that its actions are targeted only at Saudi Arabia and no other countries. This is because it also seeks to send a signal to avoid making more enemies and triggering another large-scale offensive by a multinational naval coalition," Zhang said.
The expert noted that the Houthis' calculations extend beyond immediate military objectives, as control over strategically located islands and waterways could provide them with greater leverage over maritime security in the southern Red Sea.
Meanwhile, tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis have continued to intensify, while the United States has so far only agreed to provide intelligence and target-identification support but rejected direct military intervention, said Zhang.
She attributed the U.S. decision to three main factors, saying Washington is seeking to avoid opening another war front in the Middle East while its military focus remains on Iran.
"First, the current strategic focus of the U.S. military in the Middle East remains on Iran. It has already deployed a large number of air and naval forces there and is suffering significant attrition, so it wants to make every effort to avoid opening a new front in Yemen. Second, from March to May last year, the U.S. military launched large-scale airstrikes and naval attacks against the Houthi armed group in Yemen. It knows very well that the Houthi armed group possesses strong asymmetric combat capabilities. Therefore, the United States is also concerned that if it resumes attacks, it may once again fail to achieve its objectives, as happened last year. The last point is that the Trump administration wants to reduce its security commitments to its allies, arguing that Gulf allies should rely on their own military capabilities to address security threats in their neighborhood, and opposing the U.S. military serving as the region's free security backstop," Zhang said.
Houthi seeks to pile pressure on Saudi Arabic: expert
