RIYADH: Yemen’s Houthis launched fresh missile and drone attacks targeting southern Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition said, escalating a deadly renewed conflict near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the Houthis “launched several ballistic missiles and drones toward the cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha, and Jizan”. He did not report any casualties from salvos.
Earlier on Wednesday, Houthi officials reported dozens of Saudi retaliatory airstrikes as daily combat continued to convulse the region.
More than 50 strikes targeted several provinces, including the flashpoint areas of Taiz and Hodeida, the scene of fierce clashes between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces.
“During the past 12 hours, the Saudi enemy’s air force conducted 54 airstrikes targeting the provinces of Al-Jawf, Marib, Taiz, Hodeida and Saada,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said. He warned that the operations would “not go unanswered and unpunished.”
The Al-Masirah satellite television channel reported that the death toll from Saudi airstrikes on a prison days earlier climbed to 32 dead and seven injured as rescue efforts continued.
The latest aerial barrages came a day after the Houthis struck an airbase in Khamis Mushait and set oil infrastructure ablaze in neighbouring cities.
Tuesday’s assault wounded 73 people, marking one of the heaviest attacks against Saudi Arabia since the eruption of the broader US-Israeli war on Iran in February.
The UN’s International Organisation for Migration reported that nearly 20,000 people have fled the violence.
“It’s a catastrophe, and the attacks are ongoing,” said Mohammed Khudairi, who fled to a displacement camp near Khokha. “We managed to leave, but others remain trapped there.”
The fighting across Yemen has killed more than 500 people since the Houthis launched a major offensive last week to seize territory around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the gateway to the Red Sea shipping route.
The Houthis triggered the return to hostilities in July after allowing an Iranian plane to land in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace.
The Houthis previously fought the coalition from 2015 until a 2022 UN-brokered cease-fire, a conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead and sparked a devastating humanitarian crisis.
Pakistan’s coordinated effort
Against this backdrop of escalating violence, diplomatic efforts have intensified to prevent the crisis from spiralling into an uncontrollable regional conflagration.
In a coordinated effort to de-escalate tensions, Pakistan has reportedly conveyed a message from Saudi Arabia to Iran, urging Tehran to use its influence to halt attacks by Yemeni Houthis on the kingdom, the Reuters news agency quoted Saudi, Pakistani and Iranian sources as saying.
Any diplomatic communication from Pakistan carries significant weight because of its defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey.
While officials in Islamabad stressed any military role would be confined strictly to defending Saudi territory, Pakistani Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said that attacks spilling into the kingdom could trigger a joint security arrangement involving Riyadh, Ankara and Islamabad.
“An aggression on one country will be considered an aggression on all three countries,” Mr Asif told Geo News a day earlier. “There is no ambiguity or doubt. ... Unprovoked aggression or spillover ... into Saudi Arabia will definitely make this agreement operational.”
Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2026
