Yemeni Government Advances in Taiz as Houthis Claim Strikes on Saudi Airbase
Forces loyal to the Saudi Arabia-backed Yemeni government advanced in western Taiz on Sunday, September 13, after repelling a Houthi offensive. At the same time, the Houthis claimed a large missile and drone attack inside Saudi Arabia.
The government advance was supported by air strikes targeting Houthi gatherings, according to reporting on the operation. Al Jazeera A government forces source said the air force continues to bomb Houthis on the west coast in Mocha, Dhubab and surrounding areas. The fighting centers on a contested corridor where Houthi fighters had tried to advance to reach and cut the road linking Taiz to al-Makha (Mocha). That road is the main land link in this sector.
In a statement on Monday, September 14, the Houthis said they launched attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia using dozens of ballistic missiles and drones. A ballistic missile is a long-range rocket that arcs high before falling on its target, while military drones are uncrewed aircraft that can carry explosives. The Houthis said the attacks targeted King Khalid airbase in Khamis Mushait, including aircraft hangars, radar installations, runways and ammunition depots. The Houthis said the attacks were a response to a Saudi offensive involving more than 300 air strikes across Yemen over five days. There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on the claims.
The claims remain unverified. Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree is the Houthi military spokesperson. Saree did not provide evidence for the claimed attacks on Saudi Arabia in the most recent separate claim cycle, and did not say when the claimed attack occurred. An earlier claim by Saree asserted Saudi warplanes carried out 54 airstrikes over the past 12 hours.
On Sunday, the Saudi civil defence agency sent alerts for the city of Abha and the region around Khamis Mushait that were lifted shortly afterwards. The alerts followed a pattern of cross-border air attacks. The Houthis attacked the southern Saudi cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait and Jazan with ballistic missiles and drones in early September. The Houthis have carried out air attacks on southern Saudi Arabia, including oil facilities, in which dozens of people were wounded.
Clashes intensified last week after the Houthis captured parts of Yemen's Red Sea coast, strengthening their hold on the Bab al-Mandeb strait. The strait works like a narrow doorway for shipping between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Houthi fighters were deployed on the islands of Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish about 86 nautical miles (160km) north of the Bab al-Mandeb. Fighting in Yemen reignited in July after the Houthis declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, an effort to stop its ships, and began targeting its ships in the Red Sea. The International Organization for Migration said on Sunday that fighting in recent weeks had displaced nearly 86,000 people. More than 2,000 people displaced by the conflict reached neighbouring Djibouti. A truce means an agreed pause in fighting, and a United Nations-brokered truce had halted large-scale violence in 2022.
The broader context here is a shift from frozen front lines to combined land, air and maritime escalation. Taiz and the Mocha-Dhubab coast control access between Yemen's highlands and the Red Sea, while the Hanish Islands and Bab al-Mandeb shape interdiction and resupply options in a narrow chokepoint. Parallel strikes on airbases and civil-defence alerts in Asir and Jazan point to reciprocal coercion through airpower rather than a localized ground battle alone.
Looking at what this means for diplomacy, the sequence puts the 2022 truce architecture under direct strain and the renewed fighting threatens that pause. A maritime blockade claim against Saudi shipping, territorial gains along the Red Sea coast, and competing counts of air strikes create verification problems for mediators and raise the cost of de-escalation. The next indicators to watch are whether government air operations around Mocha persist, whether cross-border salvo claims produce observable damage, and whether displacement toward Djibouti accelerates across the strait.
