Ansar Allah, commonly known as the Houthis, said on Monday that its forces recorded a “major escalation” of Saudi airstrikes and missile attacks on Yemen as it continues to make gains against Saudi-backed forces on the ground.
“In a major escalation, the criminal Saudi enemy targeted the governorates of al-Jawf, Taiz, Saada, and Marib with 157 airstrikes and missile attacks,” Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces, wrote on Telegram.
“These attacks were carried out using F-15 and Typhoon warplanes launched from Khamis Mushait and Taif airbases, and missiles were launched from Najran and Jizan,” Saree wrote.
He added that the “total number of airstrikes and missile attacks since the beginning of the escalation has now reached 917” and added that the “major aggression will not go unanswered, God willing.”
The Health Ministry within the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni government said that at least one civilian was killed by Saudi strikes in Taiz, and a video that surfaced online shows a blast at a crowded market in the Dhubab district of Taiz. Ansar Allah officials claim the blast was a Saudi strike, while sources from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government claim it was a Houthi missile.
Ground fighting continues, and Reuters reported on Monday that Ansar Allah is now fighting to seize the strategic Kahboub Mountains, in the provinces of Taiz and Lahij, which separate the Red Sea coast from the area of Yemen controlled by Saudi-backed forces. Since September 3, Ansar Allah has made rapid gains on the ground, taking full control of the Red Sea coast and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
So far, the US has refrained from supporting Saudi Arabia with direct airstrikes on Ansar Allah, as President Trump reportedly reversed plans to bomb Yemen on Sunday. But the US is still providing targeting data and intelligence, and Trump did give Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the green light to escalate in Yemen back in July, before Saudi Arabia bombed the Sanaa International Airport, which reignited the war after a 2022 ceasefire had held relatively well for four years.
