Yemeni Forces Strike Sanaa and Saada After Houthis Claim Attack on Aramco Site Near Riyadh

Yemen's internationally recognised government said on Sunday that its armed forces had carried out strikes on Houthi positions in the capital Sanaa and in Saada, the rebels' northern heartland, as well as on the Taiz front. The strikes followed a Houthi claim late on Saturday that the group had fired ballistic missiles and drones at a Saudi Aramco oil facility south of Riyadh.

Armed forces spokesman Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nuzaili described the operations as "painful strikes" against "vital targets" belonging to the Houthis, and warned in remarks on Saudi state television that the group's military capabilities would not be safe anywhere in the country.

Fire at the Aramco site, but no confirmation from Riyadh

Images published by international news agencies on Saturday showed flames and thick black smoke rising from part of an Aramco facility south of the Saudi capital, with firefighters, ambulances and police vehicles nearby. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the operation had achieved its objective and caused fires at the targeted sites, presenting it as retaliation for Saudi air strikes on Houthi-held territory.

Saudi authorities have not confirmed that the facility was attacked, and Aramco has not commented on what caused the blaze. The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government went further, with spokesman Turki al-Maliki calling the Houthi claim "misleading" and saying the group was trying to distract from heavy losses on the battlefield, particularly around Taiz.

The Houthis, for their part, said Saudi aircraft had carried out about 60 strikes on areas under their control over the previous 24 hours, including on Sanaa.

Competing casualty claims

Government forces said that early on Sunday they conducted 97 "precision targeting operations" on the Taiz and Lahij fronts using warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers, and that 260 Houthi fighters had been "neutralised". A day earlier the same spokesman said 257 strikes across several fronts had killed at least 700 Houthi fighters. None of these figures has been independently verified, and the Houthis have not released casualty numbers of their own.

A war that has reignited since July

The latest exchanges mark another step up in a conflict that had been relatively contained after a 2022 truce. That truce collapsed in July, and renewed fighting has since displaced hundreds of thousands of people. In mid-September the Houthis seized the Red Sea port city of Mocha and strategic islands near the Bab al-Mandab strait (see our earlier coverage), before government-aligned forces stabilised the front lines.

Taiz has now become the focal point. The city is split between Houthi-held and government-held districts, and civilians have been forced to move repeatedly as fighting shifts. The World Food Programme said on Friday that 74 per cent of households in accessible parts of the governorate cannot meet their basic food needs, the highest level it has recorded this year, as the fighting pushes up food prices and cuts off aid routes. Reuters has reported that Saudi Arabia is weighing a broader, multi-front offensive aimed at pushing back the group and securing Red Sea shipping lanes.

Why it matters beyond Yemen

Any credible threat to Saudi oil infrastructure lands directly on global energy markets, which are already tight after months of disruption in the Gulf and around the Red Sea. For large crude importers such as India, a sustained Houthi campaign against Saudi facilities, or a wider Saudi offensive that further unsettles the Bab al-Mandab route, would add to pressure on fuel import costs and shipping insurance at a time when oil prices are already elevated.

Whether Riyadh eventually confirms damage at the Aramco site will be the key signal for markets in the coming days.

This is an original summary based on public reporting. See our editorial policy for how we source, write, and correct our stories.