Fighting between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and government forces intensified on Sunday, as a Houthi projectile injured six people in Saudi Arabia’s southern Najran region, prompting Egypt to pledge support for the kingdom amid widening regional tensions.
Saudi Civil Defense said the projectile struck a residential area, injuring six Saudi citizens and damaging three houses and three vehicles. There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia or the Saudi-led coalition on the Houthis’ allegations of attacks against civilian sites in Yemen.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said 110 strikes had targeted areas in Sanaa and the provinces of Hodeidah, Taiz and Marib, leaving more than 30 people dead or injured. He alleged that most of the casualties were women and children and said Saudi forces had carried out 2,652 air and missile strikes against Yemen since the latest escalation began.
Meanwhile, Yemen’s government-aligned forces said they had carried out 1,326 strikes against Houthi targets across several front lines over the previous 24 hours. Government forces spokesperson Majid Al-Nuzaili said the operations targeted troop gatherings, military vehicles, fortified positions and weapons sites.
Al-Nuzaili said government troops and allied fighters had captured several positions in the southwestern province of Taiz and seized heavy weapons and other military equipment. He claimed that about 370 Houthi fighters had been killed or otherwise neutralised and dozens of military vehicles destroyed. The figures could not be independently verified, and the Houthis had not immediately commented on the claims.
The escalating conflict has intensified concerns over the security of Saudi Arabia and the wider region. Egypt’s National Defense Council, during a meeting chaired by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday, pledged to provide Saudi Arabia with “all necessary and possible” forms of support to protect its security and stability.
The Egyptian presidency said the council had also pledged to help safeguard the kingdom’s resources, territorial integrity and Islamic holy sites, describing the escalating attacks against Saudi Arabia as unacceptable.
The fighting has also deepened the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, particularly in Taiz, where residents say rising food and fuel prices have put basic goods beyond the reach of many households.
Taiz has emerged as a major front in Yemen’s renewed civil war, which has become part of the wider regional conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February. Houthi forces have encircled the city by cutting the main road south to Aden, forcing people from their homes and worsening shortages.
At least 121,000 people have been displaced in Taiz province during the latest fighting, according to the International Organization for Migration, although many are from rural areas outside the city. Residents have reported shortages of essential goods and sharp price increases in markets since the road to Aden was cut. Aid agencies have warned of widespread shortages of fuel, food, medicines and clean water, while the World Food Programme said in mid-October that wheat flour stocks in the city were nearly exhausted.
The conflict has also raised concerns about the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which is controlled by the Houthis, and the potential for greater regional involvement.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had provided the Houthis with intelligence and tactical guidance for recent attacks against Saudi Arabia and its Yemeni allies. Danny Citrinowicz, a former Iran researcher with Israel’s military intelligence, described the Iran-Houthi connection as “very, very strong on the operational level”, characterising it as strategic cooperation based on shared interests rather than a client-patron relationship.
Yemen’s government also accused the Houthis of targeting Aden International Airport on Friday with two missiles that landed near a Yemenia Airlines aircraft preparing to depart for Cairo. Information Minister Moammar Al-Eryani said flight IY 612 was preparing for takeoff when the missiles landed about 500 metres from the aircraft and 100 metres from the centre of the runway.
The widening hostilities have also revived questions about possible cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, asked whether Saudi Arabia had sought Israel’s help, said: “There are barely any Middle Eastern states that aren’t asking us for help,” according to The Times of Israel.
Israel and Saudi Arabia had been considered close to an agreement to normalise relations before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. US President Donald Trump has also said Saudi Arabia should accept Israel’s offer to help fight the Houthis, describing Israeli support as “very helpful” amid the escalating hostilities.
(With agency inputs from Reuters and ANI)