Houthi Attacks Push Yemen and Gulf Toward Wider Crisis

Yemen’s internationally recognised government said Saturday that eight of its soldiers were killed in heavy clashes with Houthi fighters on the al-Maqatirah front in Lahij governorate. The government-affiliated Tur al-Bahah military axis reported the deaths as fighting intensified across several fronts, with Saudi Arabia-backed forces pressing a counteroffensive against the Iran-aligned group.

Fighting Across Yemen

In Taiz governorate, government troops said they killed 12 Houthi fighters in al-Aqroud after days of fighting on the outskirts of Taiz city. They said they repelled Houthi advances and inflicted heavy losses. On another front, troops said they broke a Houthi attack at al-Shaqab.

Government-aligned Homeland Shield Forces said a drone destroyed a Houthi supply vehicle in al-Wazziyah. The Southern Giants Brigades reported precision strikes on Houthi positions in al-Madaribah, near the Lahij border.

Government troops and allied Popular Resistance fighters kept up their offensive in al-Jawf and Marib. Military officials reported artillery barrages and drone strikes against Houthi military positions, barracks and troop assemblies in al-Jawf. Coalition aircraft bombed Houthi command hubs and supply depots, while government artillery and missile units targeted Houthi lines in Marib.

The war escalated sharply after the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, or “Supporters of God” in Arabic, seized strategic territory from government forces along the Red Sea coast last month. The Saudi-backed government launched a counteroffensive and the “Dawn of Yemen” operation to recapture Houthi-held territory, including Sanaa. The Iran-aligned group seized the capital in 2014, 12 years before the current date.

Claims and Gulf Security

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group’s air-defence forces had brought down a Saudi reconnaissance drone over Hajjah governorate. He identified the aircraft as a Turkish-manufactured Lentatek Karayel and said it was the fourth of its kind downed since the latest escalation began. The Houthis also claimed they shot down a Saudi Apache helicopter in Najran, a border province.

Saudi-led coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said an AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed in Najran because of a technical malfunction, killing two crew members. Houthi media reported 10 Saudi air strikes on sites in Saada governorate.

Off al-Mukalla, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said at least seven armed men aboard a skiff attacked a liquefied natural gas tanker. The attackers fired two shots; the onboard security detail returned two warning shots, and the skiff changed course and disengaged. UKMTO separately reported that two projectiles struck a tug boat off the UAE coast. A live update from Saudi Arabia also reported drones intercepted over Riyadh and the Eastern Province, but provided no further details about those incidents.

Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed AlBudaiwi condemned continued Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, calling them “deliberate criminal behavior” and urging a firm international stance. He said 7,000 ballistic missiles had targeted Gulf facilities since last February and that Houthi attacks had targeted civilian and energy facilities in Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani condemned attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, expressed Bahrain’s solidarity with Riyadh and backed any measures Saudi Arabia takes to defend itself. “Any attack on a GCC member state is an attack on all GCC states,” he said at the GCC Ministerial Council’s 168th ministerial meeting in Bahrain. He also voiced support for Oman and Qatar’s mediation efforts between the United States and Iran.

Civilian Costs

The International Organization for Migration said more than 233,000 people had been displaced since fighting escalated, including about 121,000 in Taiz governorate. The World Health Organization warned that Taiz city had become functionally isolated. Its 12 hospitals had fuel for only four days, no surgical supplies and critical shortages of oxygen and medicine, as a cholera outbreak grew.

The UN Refugee Agency said more than 4,000 refugees had reached East Africa: 3,800 in Djibouti and roughly 200 in Somalia. UNHCR reported a cholera outbreak at Djibouti’s Markazi camp, where health workers were treating 31 cases and one death had been recorded.