Fighting between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the country’s Houthi rebels killed more than 60 people on Saturday (September 5, 2026), including civilians, medical and military sources told AFP .
The Houthis have also announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and have begun targeting its ships and territory. A government official blamed the strike on the bus, travelling between Taiz and the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in Aden, on the Houthis. The officer added that reinforcements had been arriving from Aden in response to the Houthi offensive, which aims to cut off the government-held port city of Mokha, under fire for weeks, and advance towards areas bordering the Bab al-Mandab strait. With Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial ships, the Bab al-Mandab chokepoint has gained importance as a transit route for oil from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude. In July, a fragile truce between the Houthis and Yemen’s government fell apart after the rebels welcomed an Iranian plane to the capital Sanaa, setting off a spate of attacks. The fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and government troops supported by U.S. ally Saudi Arabia signals the emergence of a new front in the wider West Asia war, which broke out in late February with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran.
26 government troops were killed during several hours of fighting in the country’s southwest, while medical and military sources from the Iran-backed Houthis said 31 rebel fighters were killed, according to three Yemeni military sources. On Friday (September 4), the fighting killed 129 people, according to an AFP tally compiled from several sources. A military official told AFP on Saturday (September 5) that three airstrikes by Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the government in Aden, had targeted positions recently captured by the Houthis in Taiz.
One medical source in the government-held city of Taiz said a missile strike killed six civilians travelling by bus and wounded seven others. In Taiz, a military officer said the “coming hours will be decisive” after the Houthis seized positions near the city a day earlier.
