• Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces have carried out air attacks on the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, as the fighting continues to displace civilians.

Houthis claim attack on Saudi oil facility near Riyadh

Yemen’s Houthis say they have attacked a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles and drones.

The claim came after flames and a large plume of smoke were seen rising from the Aramco refinery on Saturday, and firefighters tackled the blaze.

There was no immediate statement from Saudi authorities or Aramco on the cause of the fire.

Yahya Saree, the Houthi spokesman, said in a post on X that the attacks caused fires at the targeted sites and were in response to Saudi air raids on the territory the group controls in Yemen, including Sanaa.

He claimed there have been some 60 air attacks on Houthi-controlled territory in past 24 hours.

Yemeni forces claim 97 attacks against Houthi positions

Yemeni government-aligned forces say they have carried out 97 “precision targeting operations” against the Houthis on the Al-Tawwahi front in Taiz province and the district of Al-Baha in Lahij province.

Brigadier General Majid Abdullah Al-Nuzaili, spokesman for the Yemeni military, said the operations used aircraft, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers.

In a post on X, he said they resulted in “neutralizing (260) elements of the militia” and destroyed or damaged military vehicles, as well as transport and supply vehicles.

The announcement came hours after he said government-aligned forces had carried out 257 attacks against the Houthis using planes, drones, artillery, missiles and rockets, in Sanaa, Midi, Baqim, al-Jawf, Marib, Al Bayda, Lahij and Taiz. He said those attacks killed at least 700 fighters.

Missile strikes hit Yemen’s Saada and Hajjah provinces, media reports say

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV says Saudi forces have carried out missile attacks on border areas in the Haydan district of northern Saada province.

It also reported a second strike on the Abs district in northwestern Hajjah province.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia.

Battles ongoing for control of Yemen’s Kahboub Mountains

Heavy ground fighting is underway in Yemen’s Kahboub Mountains overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb strait.

Clashes continue between government forces – backed by al-Subaiha tribesmen – and the Houthi militia, according to Al Jazeera reporters on the ground.

The fighting comes as Yemen’s presidential council leader announced the start of major military operations to reclaim areas recently captured by the Houthis.

Control over the mountains would provide defensive depth and cover for Houthi positions closer to the Red Sea coast, making missile and drone strikes easier to sustain and harder to disrupt.

Houthis say Aramco sites targeted in Saudi capital, Khurais area

Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree says the group launched a ballistic missile and drone attack on Saudi energy giant Aramco’s sites in the capital, Riyadh, and the oil-rich Khurais area in the kingdom’s east.

“Both operations successfully achieved their objectives,” Saree said in a statement posted on X. “The strikes were precise, causing large fires at the targeted sites.”

There was no immediate response from Saudi Arabia.

The militia described the attacks as retaliation for Saudi strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, and threatened further bombings of Saudi military and oil facilities.

“[The] enemy continues its unjust aggression against our people by launching more aggressive air strikes, which during the past 12 hours amounted to 50 air strikes and missiles targeting the capital, Sanaa, and the governorates of al-Jawf, Taiz, Amran, Hajjah and Saada,” said Saree.

‘Ambitious endeavor’: Defeating Houthis requires ‘a lot more resources’

The Houthis are considerably stronger than when they fought the Saudi Arabia-led military coalition years ago, analyst Hisham al-Omeisy says.

Al-Omeisy, a senior Yemen researcher at the European Institute of Peace, said that the Houthis have not been weakened by their recent push to take territory and the Red Sea coastline.

He noted the group captured weapons and ammunition and recruited fighters in the areas seized from Saudi-backed government forces over the past six weeks.

“These are not the Houthis that the Saudis fought a few years ago – this is a very different creature now, much stronger,” al-Omeisy said, adding that defeating the group will require “a lot more resources this time around”.

With funds and backing from regional and international powers, the Saudi-led coalition “might have a shot” at dislodging the Houthis from some territory in Yemen, he said.

“But capturing, for instance, the capital somehow – that’s going to be an ambitious endeavor,” al-Omeisy said.

Yemen’s Saudi-backed leadership ‘disconnected from reality’

Yemen’s internationally recognized government is out of touch with events on the ground, according to Hussein al-Bukhaiti, a political commentator and pro-Houthi journalist.

He said that Yemen’s leaders “are so disconnected from what’s happening in reality. They have been based in Riyadh hotels since 2015 when Saudi Arabia launched its coalition war against Yemen, which was fully backed as well by the United States”.

Houthi forces have seized areas along the main highway between Taiz and Aden – one of the Saudi-backed troops’ main supply lines – which is now cut off, al-Bukhaiti said.

Questioning the announcement by Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi of a major new military operation against the Houthis, he asked: “What will it add to the reality?”

Such an announcement would make sense only if the Saudis launched a new military coalition and a full-scale sea or land invasion, al-Bukhaiti added.

Houthi forces now control about 80 percent of Taiz province, reversing a situation in which Saudi-backed forces held more than 70 percent before the past two months of fighting.

The strategically important city of Taiz could be “liberated” in the coming days, said al-Bukhaiti.

Closure of east Taiz crossing could cause a food crisis

Fierce clashes are still under way on several fronts in Taiz, especially west and south of Taiz.

There are attempts by the Houthis to cut the road linking Taiz with Aden and the other provinces, especially at Haijat al-Abd.

There are reports that the road has been cut, but so far no official statement has been issued. This morning there were air strikes targeting the Houthis in Beni Bakari in Jabal Habashi, west of Taiz.

The eastern Taiz crossing has been closed for two days. Authorities here said they closed the crossing to protect the city. Closing the crossing could also make movement difficult and could lead to a fuel and food crisis, especially if the major artery linking Taiz with Aden, the Haijat al-Abd road, is cut.

Politics

Somalia’s president accuses Houthis of destabilizing region

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has accused Yemen’s Houthis of destabilizing the region and disrupting navigation in the Bab-el-Mandeb strait.

Mohamud said he would have liked to see a united, peaceful Yemen working towards its own future, but argued that the Houthis are not capable of delivering that.

On July 13, 2026, Saudis have sent fighter jets into the air after they spotted an Iranian passenger plane that was heading to Sana'a International Airport. The jets were trying to push out the plane from Yemeni airspace.

Riyadh warned its Yemeni ally, who reportedly bombed the landing strip to prevent the Iranian plane from landing. It had a Ansarullah Houthi delegation on board that was returning from Khamenei's funeral. The plane managed to land in Hodeidah.

The Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of being behind the bombardment, and retaliated by firing missiles into Saudi Arabia.

In fact, both Saudi Arabia and its ally broght the Israeli started war on Iran to Yemen.

Saudi-led coalition says Houthi claim of attack on Riyadh ‘misleading’

The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen has dismissed Houthi claims of an attack on the Saudi capital as “misleading”.

Major-General Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the coalition, told the Asharq Al-Awsat news outlet that the Houthis were “attempting to divert attention from the scale of the losses and the growing public anger against them”.

“What the Houthis are facing in Taiz, and the human losses suffered by the group’s members at the hands of the heroes of the Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Resistance on all fronts drive them to seek illusory victories,” he added.

As we’ve been reporting, the Houthis earlier claimed a ballistic missile and drone attack on an Aramco oil facility near Riyadh and said the assault caused large fires to break out there.

Saudi Arabia provides $60m to allied government in Yemen

Authorities of the kingdom are allocating a new installment of 224 million Saudi riyals ($59.8m) to Yemen’s internationally recognized government, according to the Saudi Press Agency.

“This will stimulate economic and social development towards a more sustainable path, and will positively impact purchasing power, ensure stable incomes for families, and revitalize commercial markets,” it said, quoting a statement.

Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed al-Jabir, said on Thursday the funding will “enhance the regularity of government financial flows, support the efficiency of fiscal policy, and contribute to strengthening the purchasing power of the Yemeni citizen”.

Between 2012 and 2026, developmental and economic interventions provided by the kingdom exceeded $12.6bn, the news agency reported.

Yemeni gov’t needs to ‘translate words into actions’ in order to regain trust

After Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi announced operations to reclaim Houthi-held areas, Hisham al-Omeisy, a senior Yemen researcher at the European Institute of Peace, said that the government needs to “translate words into actions” in order to regain trust.

“Rashad’s statements, a lot of people could see it as posturing, chest-drumming, and I partly agree to that. They’ve been losing a lot of territory over the past couple of weeks. So, they need to regain the trust of the locals,” al-Omeisy said.

“The biggest problem with the Yemeni side, the anti-Houthi coalition, is that it’s fragmented. If they managed to unify those Yemeni factions, they could definitely launch an offensive against the Houthis, but it would require a coordinated response.

“The anti-Houthi camp turned out to be a house of cards, if we’re being honest. And this is one of the reasons why the Houthis managed to crash through the gate in the past few weeks and capture Hodeidah and capture territory in the Red Sea, and now they’re capturing territories in the heart of the country in places like Taiz.”

UKMTO reports explosions near vessel off Yemen’s Red Sea coast

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) says it received a report of an incident 60 nautical miles (equivalent to about 110km) south of Yemen’s Mocha where a tanker’s crew saw multiple explosions close to the vessel.

The agency said the crew are safe and no environmental impact has been reported.

Defence expert says Yemen’s decisive battle marks departure from Stockholm agreement

Defense analyst Ibrahim Jalal, who specializes in regional security and armed groups, says the Yemeni response has just begun.

He said that “now that the Yemeni government has announced its full-scale, comprehensive operations to engage and weaken … we will see a new calculus”.

“Peace and de-escalation processes have failed because there’s an obvious imbalance of power that has been hanging in the balance for about six years now at least. In order to break the stalemate, there must be a decisive battle,” he said.

“We can only look into what will happen after today’s announcement of the departure from defense into offence for the first time since 2018, since the imposition of the Stockholm agreement.

“This must be Yemen’s final battle, a battle that avoids many future endless battles.”

The Stockholm Agreement is a UN-backed peace accord signed on 13 December 2018 in Sweden by the Saudi-backed government of Yemen and Houthi rebels to de-escalate the civil war and ease a severe humanitarian crisis.