Warplanes of Yemen's internationally recognized government carried out 20 airstrikes in three hours on Friday against Houthi targets in Taiz province — the most serious escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis since a UN-brokered truce largely halted cross-border attacks in 2022. The United Nations is warning of "serious risks" to civilians as the specter of all-out war returns.
The military spokesperson for Yemen's internationally recognized government said on Friday that warplanes had carried out 20 strikes over the past three hours targeting Houthi movements, personnel, vehicles and military equipment in Taiz province. Colonel Majid al Nuzaili, the armed forces spokesperson, separately said the air force conducted "27 precise and concentrated airstrikes" along the Taiz front lines, destroying missile depots, command-and-control centers, supply points and armored vehicles in districts including Maqbana, Hayfan and Sabr Al Mawadim, plus an operation in the capital Sanaa and strikes on eleven strategic targets in Saada province.
Six military sources told Reuters that fighting was widespread across Taiz and that authorities had ordered the closure of all roads leading into the province, designating them military operational areas. Around 19 roads were affected, including the main route running from southern Sanaa to Taiz.
Whether civilians were harmed is disputed. Yemen's government said its forces struck Houthi weapons depots, military equipment and gatherings — not civilian sites. The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of bombing a market: Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Saudi warplanes carried out two airstrikes on a market near the Mawiyah Junction on the outskirts of Taiz, killing or wounding nearly 50 people, and warned of retaliation. The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel reported seven people killed and 40 wounded, including five children. Neither account could be independently verified.
The fighting has spilled across the Saudi border. Saudi Arabia said on Thursday that the Houthis had attacked a power distribution station in Medina that supplies electricity to the Prophet's Mosque. A Houthi military source, quoted by the Houthi-run Saba news agency, denied the claim and said it was intended to cover up Saudi Arabia's failure to substantiate an earlier accusation that the Houthis had targeted the Muslim holy city of Mecca.
Two weeks ago, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi drone south of Mecca before it entered restricted airspace over the city. The Houthis denied targeting Mecca or any other Islamic holy site. The tit-for-tat has pushed cross-border confrontation back to pre-truce intensity.
Civilians are paying the price. Reuters reports the renewed conflict has already displaced tens of thousands of people. UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg warned that Houthi military operations in Taiz pose "serious risks to the civilian population," citing "deeply concerning" reports of casualties, damage to essential infrastructure, and roadblocks that hinder mobility and complicate residents' escape.
UNICEF separately warned that child malnutrition is rising in Yemen, as the fighting worsens an already fragile humanitarian situation.
Taiz is a strategic prize in southwestern Yemen. Analysts say unchallenged Houthi occupation of the province would give the movement full control over the country's north, a tighter grip on the Red Sea coast, and easier access to the south and the southern port city of Aden, seat of the government. The battle also bears on the security of Red Sea shipping lanes and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait — a chokepoint for global energy and trade.
Diplomacy is running in parallel. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has arrived in Washington for talks on the Houthis, meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The UN secretary-general has urged restraint. But amid the gunfire over Taiz, the negotiating table looks distant: the worst escalation in four years of truce is pushing Yemen back toward the edge of all-out war.