Yemen's Houthi group said Sunday that Saudi Arabia had launched 106 air and missile strikes across Houthi-held areas over the past 24 hours, as the internationally recognized government announced a new military campaign to retake territory from the group amid a widening escalation in the country.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on social media platform X that the Saudi attacks hit the capital Sanaa and provinces including Al-Jawf and Taiz.
Sarea said the latest attacks brought the number of Saudi air and missile strikes since the current escalation began to 1,516.
The figures could not be independently verified, and Saudi Arabia has not confirmed carrying out the strikes reported by the Houthis.
The Houthi statement came hours after Yemen's government announced the start of what it called the "battle of liberation," marking a new phase in its campaign to retake Houthi-held territory.
Houthis claim fresh missile, drone attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities
Sarea also said on Sunday that the Houthis launched ballistic missiles and drones at two Saudi Aramco facilities, including the Khurais oil complex southeast of Riyadh, marking a fresh escalation in the rapidly intensifying cross-border hostilities between the two sides.
He said in a statement broadcast by the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV that the group carried out two separate operations using "a number of ballistic missiles and drones."
Sarea said one operation targeted an Aramco facility in Riyadh and the other struck the company's oil facilities in Khurais, Southeast of the Saudi capital, claiming both attacks "achieved their objectives" with precise hits that caused large fires.
The claims could not be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities or Saudi Aramco on the latest Houthi announcement.
Sarea said Sunday's operations came in response to what the Houthis described as continued Saudi air and missile attacks on areas under the group's control in Yemen.
He claimed that 50 Saudi air and missile strikes had hit Sanaa and the provinces of Al-Jawf, Taiz, Amran, Hajjah and Saada over the previous 12 hours, bringing the total number of such strikes since the latest escalation began to 1,460.
The strikes came as Yemen's conflict entered one of its sharpest escalations in years, with heavy fighting spreading across southwestern Yemen and renewed missile, drone and air attacks reviving direct hostilities between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia.
Yemen's conflict began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
British maritime agency reports explosions near vessel off Yemen's Mocha
Also on Sunday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that several explosions occurred near a vessel in the Red Sea off Yemen's western port city of Mocha.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, the UKMTO said it had received a report of an incident 60 nautical miles south of Mocha.
A tanker had observed several explosions in close proximity to the vessel. All crew members were reported safe, with no environmental impact reported, according to the statement.
The UKMTO said authorities were investigating the incident and advised vessels to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity.
The incident was the first of its kind since the Houthi group took control of Mocha, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and areas along Yemen's western coast in September.
On July 20, the Houthis announced a maritime ban targeting Saudi Arabia following tensions with the Yemeni government and reciprocal attacks on Sanaa airport and Saudi Arabia's Abha airport, despite a UN-brokered truce reached in 2022.
