Tensions escalated sharply on Monday as Yemen’s Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition launched severe retaliatory strikes against key military, infrastructure, and civilian targets, leaving over 50 dead and hundreds wounded across the region.
The Houthis said Saudi airstrikes hit a road in the Duras area of Ibb Governorate’s As Sayyani District, killing two civilians and injuring another. The group also said on Monday it had carried out six attacks with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones against oil, aviation and military targets in Saudi Arabia over the past 48 hours.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a statement that the first attack targeted facilities of Saudi oil giant Aramco in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, claiming the strikes hit its targets and caused fires.
The second attack targeted the Shaybah oil filed in eastern Saudi Arabia and caused a fire, Sarea said.
Other attacks targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia, radar installations at Jabal Al-Hisn and Jabal Al-Rahmah, King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait, a Saudi naval task force camp, and a radar installation in the southern Najran region, he alleged.
The six operations were in response to more than 200 Saudi air and missile strikes on Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas of Yemen over the past 48 hours, which resulted in dozens of deaths and injuries, most of which were women and children, he said.
The latest claims came amid continued cross-border attacks between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia, alongside heavy fighting between the group and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
A Houthi missile attack on a government military base in Yemen’s southeastern oil-rich province of Shabwa earlier on Monday killed 53 people, with more than 200 others injured, the local government said in a statement.
The government said several Houthi-fired ballistic missiles struck the Ahmed Al-Sulaimani Training Center inside the Al-Alam military base in Jardan district, near Ataq, the provincial capital, where newly recruited internal security personnel were undergoing training.
The figures remain preliminary, the government said, adding that the wounded were being treated at government and private hospitals across Shabwa, with critically injured patients to be transferred to specialized medical facilities when necessary.
The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the attack. Houthi-run al-Masirah TV, citing a military source within the group, said Houthis forces had struck gathering of what it described as "Saudi-backed forces" at Al-Alam military base.
The group also renewed its call for "all Yemenis" to leave military camps where it said Saudi Arabia was mobilizing forces, according to al-Masirah. Meanwhile, the Shabwa authority called on Yemen's government and the Saudi-led coalition to provide the province with air defense, surveillance and early-warning systems.
Al-Alam is a large military facility in Jardan district used by forces aligned with Yemne's internationally recognized government. Monday's attack came amid intensified fighting and exchanges of attacks between the Houthis and government forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition across several fronts.
In addition, the Houthis also said that they had launched attacks on targets in eastern Yemen's Al-Jawf Province and on two areas in western Lahij Province.
The Joint Force Command of the Saudi-led coalition on Monday issued a warning demanding that the Houthis not use traditional vessels to smuggle weapons, missiles and other military equipment into Yemen by sea.
The coalition said that such smuggling activities directly threaten the security of Yemen, as well as regional and international security, and endanger the lives of civilians.
The coalition also called on all ship owners not to participate in Houthi activities to smuggle weapons, missiles and military equipment to Yemen's coast by sea, so as to protect their own lives and property.
Houthis, Saudi coalition trade heavy strikes across region, casualties mount
Houthis, Saudi coalition trade heavy strikes across region, casualties mount
Houthis, Saudi coalition trade heavy strikes across region, casualties mount
