Houthis say Saudi Arabia launched 26 strikes in Yemen over 24 hours
The Houthi group reports 26 Saudi-led airstrikes in Yemen over a 24-hour period amid a resurgence of the civil war. The conflict has escalated following a Houthi offensive to control the Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab strait.
Why it matters
The escalation threatens regional maritime security and exacerbates one of the world's most severe humanitarian crises.
Yemen’s Houthis said on Friday (September 18, 2026) that Saudi Arabia had launched 26 strikes against areas under their control in the past 24 hours, as the pro-Iran group and Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government clash in the country’s revived civil war.
The group said that the number of Saudi strikes on its positions had reached 300 over the last week, saying they targeted areas across Houthi-held Yemen.
The war, which began in 2014 with the Houthi capture of the capital Sanaa, had been largely frozen since 2022 but erupted back into life in July.
Saudi Arabia has, since 2015, led a coalition backing the internationally recognised government. Its intervention escalated the war, which has triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in the impoverished country.
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