Yemen fighting intensifies as Houthis report deadly strikes near Sanaa
Yemen's war has intensified on multiple fronts, with government forces saying they repelled Houthi assaults in Marib and pushed into al-Jawf, while Houthi authorities reported deadly strikes in Sanaa province. The latest reports point to simultaneous ground fighting and air attacks in a conflict that has again drawn heavy civilian losses. The fighting is part of the government's "Dawn of Yemen" operation, which has been under way for more than a month.
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Government forces said troops backed by warplanes and drones fought for hours to stop Houthi advances in Marib province and destroyed fortifications and combat equipment. They also said they were pushing into Houthi-held areas of al-Jawf province, where fighting entered a third consecutive day. In a separate statement, a government spokesman said the army had carried out 875 attacks on Houthi positions on Saturday, claiming about 130 Houthi commanders and fighters were neutralised and 50 vehicles and missile launchers were destroyed or disabled.
Those claims could not be independently verified. On the other side, the Houthi-run Saba news agency said a series of strikes killed at least 27 people and wounded about 30 others in Sanaa province. A spokesman for the Sanaa-based Ministry of Health said the attacks hit al-Shariya village, north of the capital, and that most of the casualties were women and children.
The Houthis blamed the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government forces, while the head of the group's Supreme Political Council vowed to avenge the attack. Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government have not commented on the reported strikes. The reports matter because they show the conflict widening across several provinces at once, with battlefield claims now running alongside allegations of mass civilian casualties.
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Yemen's war has repeatedly produced competing accounts of the same events, making independent verification difficult and leaving civilians exposed to the consequences. The latest deaths also come a day after the Houthis and Yemen's government traded blame over a separate attack that killed civilians at a market in Taiz. The current escalation sits within a longer-running struggle between the internationally recognised government and the Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah.
The government's "Dawn of Yemen" operation is aimed at taking territory from Houthi fighters, while the Houthis continue to hold large areas including the capital, Sanaa. The conflict has also involved the Saudi-led coalition, which has backed the government and been accused by the Houthis of carrying out air strikes. What remains unclear is the full scale of the damage in Sanaa province, the exact toll from the fighting in Marib and al-Jawf, and whether either side will provide independently verifiable evidence for its claims.
It is also not clear whether the reported strikes will trigger further retaliation or wider escalation. The next developments to watch are official responses, any revised casualty figures, and whether the fighting spreads to additional fronts.
Media linked to Yemen's Houthi movement say at least 25 people have been killed in air strikes attributed to Saudi Arabia in al-Shariyah, east of the capital, Sanaa. The reports say women and children are among the dead. Live footage broadcast by Houthi-run television showed rescuers pulling bodies from the rubble of several buildings and injured people being taken to hospital.
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According to the Houthi-linked reports, the strike hit several buildings in the town east of Sanaa. Saba news agency, which is also run by the Houthis, said Saudi Arabia carried out the attack. There has been no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government.
The footage also showed children among those being carried into a nearby hospital. The reported deaths add to the heavy civilian toll in a conflict that has repeatedly crossed the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition has been fighting the Houthis for more than a decade in support of the internationally recognised government.
The same reporting says the war had been dormant for several years before reigniting, and that major fighting has since resumed between the Houthis and forces aligned with the Saudi-backed government. The latest reports come after a period of renewed escalation in which both sides have accused each other of attacks. The Houthi-linked account says the coalition previously struck Sanaa airport, prompting the Houthis to target Abha airport in Saudi Arabia and later ships in the Red Sea.
The reports also say the Saudi-led coalition intercepted a missile heading towards Riyadh hours before the strike in al-Shariyah. That sequence underlines how the conflict has widened beyond front-line fighting into cross-border missile and air attacks. The humanitarian impact remains severe.
The United Nations has said more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since fighting resumed, according to the figures cited in the reporting. The same account also refers to an attack on a market in Taiz province on Friday that reportedly killed 30 people, though responsibility for that incident was disputed. Together, these reports point to a conflict in which civilians continue to bear much of the cost.
What remains unclear is the exact scale of the damage in al-Shariyah and whether the Saudi-led coalition will confirm or deny responsibility. The number of casualties may change as rescue work continues and hospitals receive more injured people. The next developments to watch are any official response from Saudi Arabia, further casualty updates from Houthi-linked media, and whether the latest strike prompts retaliation across the border.
