Houthis claim Saudi aircraft targeted Yemen's Sanaa, Taiz, Hajjah

Yemen's Houthi group on Friday alleged a Saudi aircraft carried out airstrikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and the flashpoint provinces of Taiz and Hajjah.

The Houthi-run Saba news agency said the aircraft targeted Houthi-controlled Sanaa.

In a separate report, the agency quoted an unnamed local source as saying that the aircraft also targeted Haradh district in the western Hajjah province with two airstrikes.

Another series of airstrikes targeted the areas of Al-Zukaira, Al-Masahin and Al-Zaazea in Al-Shamayatayn district of Taiz province, it added.

The attacks were carried out on Thursday and Friday.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials or Yemen's internationally recognized government on the reports.

Fighting intensifies

On Thursday, Yemen and Saudi Arabia witnessed a series of rapidly unfolding military developments.

These included Houthi missile attacks targeting Saudi airports and military facilities, and the interception of three ballistic missiles by the Saudi-led coalition.

The developments coincided with the Yemeni army's announcement that it had carried out 1,729 operations against the group's military targets as part of the "Dawn of Yemen" operation.

Meanwhile, local media reported airstrikes targeting Houthi positions in five Yemeni provinces.

Three explosions were also reported in Mukalla, the capital of Hadramout province in eastern Yemen, as clashes continued between government forces and Houthi fighters in Taiz.

On Monday, Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi announced the launch of "Dawn of Yemen" in order to "restore state institutions, liberate the capital Sanaa, and end the coup by the Houthi militias."

The developments come amid a military escalation that began in July 2026 and is considered the most extensive since the relative calm that followed a truce which began in April 2022.

Yemen has been engulfed in war since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

Government forces and their allies control the temporary capital Aden in the south, as well as the eastern provinces of Al-Mahra and Hadramout, the southern provinces of Shabwa and Abyan, most of Lahj, Taiz and Al-Dhale provinces in the southwest, parts of Marib province in central Yemen, and areas of Al-Jawf, Hajjah and Saada provinces in the north.