Forces aligned with Yemen’s internationally recognized government have retaken strategic positions and advanced across the southwestern province of Taiz after repelling an aggressive offensive by Houthi fighters. Ground units loyal to the Saudi-backed administration pushed through contested sectors on Sunday following hours of intense tactical combat. The battlefield gains coincided with a statement from the Houthi movement claiming a large-scale missile and drone barrage against a major airbase deep inside Saudi Arabia.
The renewed clashes signal expanding confrontation across the Red Sea coastal interior.
Military officials reported that ground operations received coordinated aerial support, with coalition fighter jets conducting sustained strikes against rebel assembly points across western Taiz. The air campaign concentrated heavily along the coastal corridors encompassing Mocha, Dhubab, and adjacent transit zones to prevent rebel reinforcements from arriving. Frontline positions along the Kadha sector saw government forces establishing mobile checkpoints reinforced with heavy weapons mounted on tactical trucks to secure freshly reclaimed territory.
Simultaneously, the Houthi leadership announced an expansive cross-border military operation directed against Saudi territory.
In a formal statement released on Monday, the group, officially known as Ansar Allah, stated that it launched dozens of ballistic missiles and weaponized drones against military infrastructure in the Kingdom. The fighters claimed direct hits against King Khalid Air Base in the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, specifically asserting that the munitions targeted aircraft hangars, operational radar arrays, runways, and subterranean ammunition storage depots. The rebel command characterized the cross-border strikes as immediate retaliation for more than 300 airstrikes conducted by the Saudi-led coalition across several Yemeni governorates over the previous five days.
Saudi Arabian authorities did not issue an immediate statement verifying damage or intercept operations at the targeted installations. Earlier on Sunday, Saudi civil defense authorities had broadcast localized safety sirens across the city of Abha and the broader Khamis Mushait perimeter, though the advisories were formally canceled shortly afterward.
