CAIRO – Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed overnight to have launched fresh attacks against neighboring Saudi Arabia, as Yemen’s Saudi-backed government called the group’s rapid advance along the Red Sea coast a “painful” escalation on a new front in the Iran war.
The Houthis’ recent seizure of a strategic port city and an island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has raised alarms in financial markets and among Yemeni civilians fearful of another plunge into devastating civil war. The strait is a vital shipping route and an alternative passage to the Strait of Hormuz.
Overnight, the rebels said they carried out additional missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognized government in its fight against the Houthis.
Houthi military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement that the group targeted a military base in Sharurah province, in Saudi Arabia’s Najran region. He offered no evidence and did not specify when the alleged attack took place.
Saudi civil defense authorities said overnight that a projectile struck al-Tawwal governorate near Yemen’s Red Sea border, wounding two people and damaging a mosque along with several other buildings. The statement blamed the Houthis. Sirens also sounded in Sharurah province, though authorities reported no casualties or damage there.
Saudi Arabia had issued no statement by Sunday regarding any new strikes against the Houthis, who have targeted Saudi oil facilities and shipping since declaring a recent blockade.
Although the rebels say other commercial vessels face no danger, markets remain uneasy and oil prices have climbed again.
Yemen’s government vows to fight back
A senior Yemeni government official said government forces would return to the Red Sea coast and mount a response. People fleeing the Houthi advance told The Associated Press that they saw forces pulling back while urging civilians to flee.
Sultan al-Arada, a member of the ruling presidential council, described the collapse of government forces in the port city of Mokha and other parts of Yemen’s western coast as “painful and regrettable.”
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Al-Arada, also governor of central Marib province, said in the televised interview aired late Saturday that forces “are currently regrouping and will return to the battle in one form or another.”
On Friday, a senior military official with Yemen’s internationally recognized government blamed “lack of coordination” between Yemen’s army and multiple allied militias, saying it gave the Houthis “a priceless opportunity.”
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t allowed to speak to the media, also said they were stunned that the Saudi air force didn’t act to prevent the capture of Mokha, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the strait.
The rebels’ rapid advance has been a major setback both to Yemen’s internationally recognized government and Saudi Arabia, which have been battling the Houthis for 12 years. The latest escalation threatens a 2022 ceasefire.
The advance also puts the Iran-backed rebels just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the U.S. military base in Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb. It’s the main U.S. base in Africa and one of several foreign military bases in Djibouti, including those of China, France and Japan.
The small Horn of Africa nation is already seeing the arrival of Yemenis making the perilous crossing of the strait. More than 2,000 people have reached Djibouti, the International Organization for Migration said Sunday.
Djibouti’s Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas M. Dawaleh, said on X that the country’s navy, coast guard and other specialized agencies were conducting rescue operations and providing emergency assistance.
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Associated Press writer Omar Farouk in Mogadishu, Somalia, contributed to his report.
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