Houthis say Saudi Arabia hits Yemen with 54 strikes after attack on bases

This screengrab taken from undated video footage released on Sep 12, 2026 by Ansarullah Media Centre purportedly shows a truck belonging to Saudi-backed forces burning after Houthi fighters set it on fire. (Photo: Ansarullah Media Centre/AFP)

SANAA: Yemen's Houthis said on Monday (Sep 14) Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes across the west of the country after the Iran-backed group earlier announced it targeted military bases in the kingdom.The group, fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government, last week seized control of Yemen's Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become vital as the wider US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.The Houthis said Riyadh targeted Yemen with 54 strikes over 24 hours, after the group fired dozens of drones and missiles at Saudi military facilities, prompting the Saudi civil defence to issue alerts in the southern cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.The civil defence later issued a brief alert for Najran in southwestern Saudi Arabia without elaborating on the cause for the warning.A Khamis Mushait resident told AFP he heard "intense blasts" which left fires burning for a "long time"."Honestly, we couldn't sleep at all."Houthi missile attacks in western Yemen killed eight troops from Yemeni government forces, two military sources with the Aden-based administration told AFP. The Iran-backed group's Al-Masirah TV channel said two civilians were killed in Saudi strikes that destroyed a bridge in Taiz province, which has seen some of Yemen's fiercest clashes in recent days.The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains at a stalemate. But US President Donald Trump on Monday said he was open to holding talks with Iran."The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the USA will choose to engage - The concept of which we are open to," Trump said on his Truth Social network.

Last week, US media reported Trump had rejected a personal request from the Saudi crown prince to intervene in the war.Yemen's prolonged civil war had been dormant for four years before reigniting in July over an Iranian flight to the capital Sanaa, becoming the latest conflict drawn into the wider regional war.The Houthis' military spokesman Yahya Saree on Monday said Saudi Arabia "conducted 54 airstrikes over the past 24 hours using F15 and Typhoon aircraft".He said the areas of Taiz, Lahj, Al-Jawf, Marib, and Hodeida were targeted.