At least 62 combatants died in renewed clashes in western Yemen on Wednesday, while the fighting drove more than 200,000 people from their homes inside the country, the United Nations said. Military sources from both sides told AFP that 37 of the dead were Houthis. Another report cited sources who said more than 270 government troops and Houthi fighters had died across Yemen over the previous day.
Fighting and competing claims
Yemen's Transport Ministry said Houthi rebels attacked Aden International Airport early Wednesday with two ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones. The Houthis, officially known as Ansar Allah, said they targeted a military base inside the airport complex. Military spokesman Yahya Saree said, “Our armed forces fired ballistic missiles at a Saudi military supply convoy that had arrived at Camp Badr, near the airport.”
One missile landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to arrive, the Transport Ministry said. Authorities cancelled the landing and diverted the aircraft to Jeddah. They moved two planes on the runway away from danger, fearing further strikes. Aden serves as the interim capital of the internationally recognized government and the main international gateway for parts of Yemen outside Houthi control.
The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile north of Riyadh and tracked its launch platform over Houthi-controlled Sanaa. It said it would destroy the platform but gave no details of casualties or damage. Saree said the Houthis had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with drones and, in a separate statement, a ballistic missile. “The strike was accurate, by God's grace, and led to a disruption of air traffic,” he wrote on X. The coalition said it intercepted the missile. Saudi authorities didn't immediately confirm an attack on the airport or publicly acknowledge reported airspace closures.
The coalition also said it intercepted a ballistic missile launched toward Khamis Mushait. Saree said the Houthis attacked Abha International Airport and an airbase there with missiles and drones, claiming they had “hit their targets accurately.” Whether that claim referred to the missile the coalition said it intercepted wasn't immediately clear. Saudi authorities didn't immediately confirm an attack on Abha airport.
Offensive around the Red Sea
The internationally recognized Yemeni government, backed by Saudi Arabia, launched a counteroffensive earlier in the week to retake Red Sea coastal territory the Houthis seized the previous month. Government forces, supported by Saudi-led coalition air power, began the offensive around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait shipping route and the city of Mokha. Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies began attacking Houthi positions on Monday.
By Monday evening, they said they had retaken the Arabian Gulf side of the strait and Mokha, a strategic Red Sea port city the Houthis had taken in September. Houthi channels denied that Mokha had been retaken and posted videos of fighters inside the city. Other reports and open-source information appeared to support that account. Military sources from both sides told AFP that the situation on the ground hadn't changed significantly; the claims couldn't be independently verified as events moved quickly and journalists had limited access.
Saba, the state-run news agency, reported that the Houthis fired a missile at government-held Taiz, wounding five civilians. Taiz resident Al-Fateh al-Eisaei told AFP: “We went out into the street to check on the wounded and saw young civilians who had been hit. The Houthi shell landed in the middle of the street, right in an area crowded with civilians.”
Displacement and strained health services
The United Nations said the escalation had displaced more than 200,000 people inside Yemen. The UN's refugee agency reported that more than 130,000 people had been displaced inside the country since the beginning of August, while nearly 3,700 had fled to Djibouti since Sept. 10. A separate report cited the government's Executive Unit for Internally Displaced Persons Camp Management, which said nearly 198,000 people had been displaced as of Sept. 28, many more than once, and another 3,800 had fled to Djibouti.
The World Health Organization said Yemen's Ministry of Health and Population reported 959 people killed and 4,207 wounded across 10 governorates between Aug. 6 and Oct. 2. Cholera cases had tripled in three weeks, and 94% of recent cases were in five governorates hosting many displaced people, including Taiz, Aden and Abyan.
The WHO said it urgently needed $31 million to expand its health response and sought another $700,000 for people who fled to Djibouti. “The situation is evolving into a complex emergency, with health needs rising as resources are already severely stretched,” said Dr. Syed Jaffar Hussain, the WHO's representative in Yemen. He said access to emergency treatment remained a critical gap, with trauma-stabilization points on the Lahj coast and in Al-Dhale lacking operating partners.
About half of health facilities in affected governorates lacked support from partner organizations, the WHO said. Only about 1,250 of the 198,000 displaced people, less than 1%, had received health services as of the previous week. Hospitals faced shortages of surgical supplies, anesthetics, blood-bank stocks and fuel. Emergency maternity services had been suspended in Marib and Ras Al-Arah.