Two killed in Saudi strike on Yemen’s Hodeidah

Saudi Arabia launched an airstrike on Ras Isa in Yemen’s Hodeidah province, killing two people and injuring two others, according to sources cited by Al Jazeera.

The strike followed an earlier attack on Sanaa, the Houthi-controlled capital of Yemen. The areas targeted include key ports and oil infrastructure.

A spokesperson for the Houthi-affiliated health ministry said the strike hit an oil company in Ras Isa, near Hodeidah. Dr Anis al-Asbahi, the ministry’s spokesperson, said in a post on X that the casualties were civilians. Saudi Arabia has not publicly commented on the attack.

Meanwhile, fighting has intensified in western Taiz province over the past two days as Houthi forces seek to gain control of strategically important areas in southwestern Yemen, Al Jazeera’s Yemen bureau chief reported.

Houthi fighters have advanced in several villages and elevated areas in rural Taiz, putting pressure on government forces on the ground. In response, government forces have advanced cautiously and made partial gains in parts of southern Marib.

Days earlier, Yemen’s government forces said they had captured several strategic locations in a swift counteroffensive backed by Saudi Arabia, including areas around Mocha and Dhubab in Taiz province and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Yemeni military spokesperson Colonel Majid al-Nujailli said the country’s armed forces had carried out 2,200 targeted operations against the Houthis over the past 24 hours.

He claimed that around 1,200 Houthi members had been “neutralised” in the attacks. More than 440 military vehicles were also destroyed or disabled across several fronts during the same period, he said.

Al-Nujailli added that repeated airstrikes had targeted Houthi military convoys and reinforcements in Taiz.

Saudi Arabia’s cabinet has warned Yemen’s Houthi group that it would face consequences for repeated attacks against the kingdom.

The warning came during a cabinet meeting in Riyadh chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Saudi state media.

The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the cabinet said the kingdom would not tolerate threats to security and maritime navigation in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The cabinet also praised the efforts of Yemen’s government forces to neutralise threats posed by the Houthis.