SANAA, Sept. 12 — Yemen’s Houthi group said Saturday that Saudi warplanes had carried out 129 airstrikes across seven Yemeni provinces over the past 48 hours, amid a sharp escalation following the group’s rapid military advance along the Red Sea coast.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement on social media platform X that the strikes hit the southwestern province of Taiz, the oil-rich northeastern province of Marib, the Red Sea province of Hodeidah, and the northern provinces of Al-Jawf, Saada, Amran and Hajjah.
Sarea said F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets launched the strikes after taking off from southwestern Saudi military bases in Khamis Mushait and Taif.
He warned that the strikes “will not go unanswered and unpunished.”
Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment on the Houthi statement.
The reported strikes came after Houthi forces on Friday consolidated control over Yemen’s western coast and key areas around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, following their capture of the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha a day earlier.
The advance forced government forces to retreat south into neighboring southern Lahj province, bringing the front line closer to the port city of Aden, the temporary seat of Yemen’s internationally recognized government.
Yemen’s conflict began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
