The conflict in Yemen intensified on Sunday (September 13, 2026), as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea and Houthis fired into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which supports Yemen’s government.
The statement blamed the Houthis. Djibouti’s Economy and Finance Minister Ilyas M. The National Resistance, a government-allied force that had controlled coastal areas, said more than 500 government fighters were killed on the west coast over the past four weeks — its first comprehensive toll. It said about 1,500 others had been wounded in the fighting since Aug 9. Earlier reporting noted: Houthis advance in Yemen, attack Saudi Arabia as rebel forces near US base in Djibouti This image taken from video broadcast by Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-controlled news channel, shows an explosion at the Sanaa International Airport compound during what the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said were several Saudi airstrikes in Sanaa, Yemen, Monday, July 13, 2026. (AP image) Earlier reporting noted: Fighting intensified in Yemen on Sunday as government forces launched attacks against Iran-backed Houthi rebels along the Red Sea coast, while the Houthis claimed attacks on neighbouring Saudi Arabia, escalating fears of a return to a wider civil war.
The Yemeni government vowed to send more forces to the Red Sea coast after conceding a “painful” defeat last week when Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. One woman said a mortar shell fell nearby as she fled in the middle of the night from the town of Khawkha in Hodeida province along the Red Sea, shortly before it was captured by Houthis. “I saw with my own eyes cars and buses burning, and bodies of children and women were lying on the road in a horrific scene,” said the woman, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for her and her family’s safety. The Saudi civil defence overnight said a projectile fell in a different area near the border with Yemen along the Red Sea, injuring two people and damaging a mosque and several other buildings. A senior government official in Yemen said its forces will return to the Red Sea coast and fight back. People fleeing the Houthi advance told The Associated Press they saw forces withdrawing and urging people to run. Dawaleh, said on X that the country’s navy, coast guard and other specialised agencies were conducting rescue operations and providing emergency assistance. Earlier reporting noted: Yemen’s internationally recognised government vowed to deploy more forces to the Red Sea after suffering what it described as a “painful” defeat last week, when the Houthis captured the port city of Mokha and an island near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital shipping route connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
