Yemen once again emerged as a major flashpoint in West Asia after clashes between the Ansar Allah movement and Saudi-backed forces escalated in different parts of the country in early September.
Media reports indicated that the Saudi-backed forces advanced across the provinces of Al-Jawf, Al-Bayda, Taiz, and Al-Hudaydah in a bid to dislodge Houthi positions.
Meanwhile, the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait and the Red Sea remain key areas for clashes over territorial dominance. Moreover, the Saudi-backed forces revealed their intention to retake the capital Sanaa from Ansar Allah.
Ansar Allah responded to the offensive with ground counter-attacks against the Saudi-backed forces, and launched long-range missile and drone strikes on infrastructure in southern Saudi Arabia.
This includes facilities of the Saudi petroleum and natural gas company Aramco in Abha, Najran, the Economic City, and Jizan.
Precise and direct strikes on King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait were also launched by Ansar Allah, as per a televised statement by the spokesperson of the Ansar Allah-led Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e.
Sare’e clarified that the attacks caused significant damage to the installations, affirming that they were carried out in response to the escalation, which Ansar Allah holds Saudi Arabia fully responsible for.
“We will not hesitate in launching more severe and wider strikes,” Sare’e threatened.
Over 300 were killed, while 1,800 were displaced across Yemen
The renewed clashes in Yemen reportedly resulted in the killing of more than 300 people. About 18,500 people have also been displaced Taiz, and Al-Hudaydah since the fighting escalated on September 3, the International Organization of Migration (IOM) stated on Monday, September 7.
Saudi Arabia joins the confrontation with a strike on a prison in Al-Jawf
It is worth noting that fighting between Ansar Allah and Saudi-backed forces resumed in July 2026, ending a UN-brokered truce that was reached in 2022 and lasted for almost four years.
This happened after Saudi Arabia attacked Sanaa International Airport on July 13, to prevent an Iranian plane from landing. Ansar Allah then vowed to retaliate inside Saudi Arabia and demanded that Riyadh end its decade-long blockade on Yemen.
The following weeks saw intensified attacks on Saudi economic facilities not only inside Saudi Arabia but also on Yemeni soil. A naval embargo targeting Saudi shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait has also been imposed, as Riyad has not complied with Ansar Allah’s demand.
On Tuesday, September 8, Saudi Arabia launched a strike on a prison known as the Central Corrective Facility in Yemen’s northern province of Al-Jawf.
At least 19 people were killed and seven others were wounded in the assault, the Ansar Allah-run Yemen Health Ministry announced.
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