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Yemen army claims 982 strikes on Houthi targets, says 127 fighters killed or wounded
Confirmed
In Short: Yemen's armed forces reported carrying out 982 strikes against Houthi targets as part of the “Dawn of Yemen” operation, claiming that 127 Houthi commanders and fighters were killed or wounded.
The operations targeted Houthi positions, gatherings, reinforcements, military equipment, fortifications, firing positions, and sniper locations.
According to the military spokesperson, the drone strikes focused on fronts in Al-Jawf, Marib, Al-Mudharabah, and the southern and western fronts, targeting fighting positions, gatherings, and vehicles belonging to the Houthi group.
In Taiz, government forces backed by the Popular Resistance continued to repel Houthi attacks and target gatherings and sources of fire.
On the Jouf front, emergency units and Nation’s Shield forces continued targeting Houthi positions and movements, capturing new strategic high ground.
Initial field estimates indicated that about 127 Houthi commanders and fighters had been killed or wounded, while dozens more had fled the fighting in Al-Jawf, Marib, and Taiz.
The coalition earlier announced the interception of two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis at the capital, Riyadh, shortly after authorities issued an alert and AFP journalists reported powerful explosions.
The conflict has escalated, with Brent crude topping $100 a barrel for the first time since July, amid tensions involving Iran and Houthi fighters hitting four Saudi cities, wounding 73 people.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels have captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route.
The operation – the most significant military mission signed off by Andy Burnham as prime minister – will involve RAF pilots attempting to shoot down Houthi missiles and drones, which attacked Saudi airports and oil facilities.
Thirteen people were killed when a missile hit King Khalid international airport in Riyadh this month, the deadliest incident since September in a war that has claimed 19 lives in Saudi Arabia so far.
The Houthis have fought Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2015, and ordinary civilians are paying the price for the renewed fighting, with more than 200,000 people displaced since July, according to UN data.
What's confirmed
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels captured more strategic islands in the southern Red Sea, Yemeni government and Houthi officials said on Monday, strengthening their control of a major maritime shipping route.
- The rebels deployed fighters on the islands of Greater Hanish and Lesser Hanish 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of Bab el-Mandeb Strait, according to two government officials and a Houthi official.
What's still developing
- The Houthi military's spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on X that fighters had targeted the sites with ballistic missiles and drones, and that "both operations successfully achieved their objectives".
- But not anymore - at least not while the Houthis are threatening vessels that pass by their coast.
- And now the Iran-backed Houthis of Yemen have entered the fray, after a 2022 ceasefire with neighbouring Saudi Arabia appeared to have broken down.
- The pro-Iranian fighters targeted “the headquarters of military operations, led by Saudi officers, at the Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, as well as weapons depots belonging to them,” according to the rebel group’s news agency.
- Houthis targeted Saudi forces' command headquarters at Badr camp and depots in Aden. 5 outlets told this the same way.
- Al-Nazili also said Yemeni forces had "neutralised" more than 430 Houthi fighters in 24 hours, while destroying or disabling more than 100 of their vehicles and military assets, as the war’s battlefronts included Taiz where the Houthis encircled the city by cutting its main road south to Aden.
- They said the Houthis took over the islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago.
- 12, 2026, as they follow a convoy carrying Houthi prisoners freed in Mokha on its way to Sanaa following the Houthi takeover of the southern Red Sea port city.
- Rashad al-Alimi, head of the ruling Presidential Leadership Council, promised a “firm response.” He said the attack reflects the Houthis’ “approach of resorting to cowardly terrorist attacks whenever they face pressures or their Iranian-backed sabotage plots falter.” The Houthi-run SABA news agency claimed the rebel attack killed and wounded dozens but did not provide further details.