Houthi–Saudi fighting kills 68 in a day as 100,000 Yemenis flee

Fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia killed 68 people in 24 hours, military sources on both sides told AFP on Thursday. A government official said at least 23 soldiers died in missile and drone attacks in two southwestern provinces. Houthi sources said 40 of their fighters were killed in Saudi air strikes and in fighting on the ground.

Saudi civil defence said debris from a Houthi drone intercepted over Taif killed a Yemeni resident of the kingdom and wounded two other people. It was the first death Riyadh has announced inside Saudi territory since the latest round of attacks began. State media showed shattered shopfronts and cars with blown-out windows. Saudi officials had earlier said more than 80 people were wounded in strikes on Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan and Najran.

Houthi-run Almasirah television said three children were killed in strikes it blamed on “Saudi-backed mercenaries,” the phrase the movement uses for Yemen’s internationally recognised government. The same outlet reported a civilian killed in Abs and air raids on telecommunications towers in Taiz. Houthi leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi, in a televised address, called Saudi claims that the group had aimed a drone at Mecca “a heinous lie” and “a great propaganda.”

The International Organisation for Migration said the latest fighting has displaced more than 100,000 people, most of them inside Yemen. The UN humanitarian office put the figure near 125,000 since early September. Some families have left by boat across the Red Sea. The World Health Organization said at least 728 people were killed or wounded in Yemen between 23 August and early September, most of them in Taiz and along the western coast.

The Houthis have taken the Red Sea coastline in a fast advance over the past week, including the port of Mokha and Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait. That shift matters beyond Yemen. After Iran closed or tightly controlled Hormuz at the start of the war with the United States, Saudi Arabia moved more of its oil export planning toward the Red Sea. A Houthi hold on the southern entrance of that sea puts pressure on the alternative as well as the original chokepoint.

Italy has already drawn a operational conclusion. Defence minister Guido Crosetto said Rome is preparing national escorts for Italian-linked merchant ships through Bab el-Mandeb and will not wait for the EU’s Aspides mission to decide when ships may pass.

A 2022 truce had quieted the Saudi–Houthi front for four years. It has come apart as the wider Middle East war spread. Riyadh and the Houthis now accuse each other of hitting cities, energy sites and telecom towers. Kuwait’s foreign ministry posted its solidarity with Saudi Arabia after the Taif incident. China has, according to regional reporting, asked Tehran to restrain the Houthis after a Saudi approach, a sign that even partners of Iran do not want the Red Sea fight to swallow the remaining oil routes.

The 68-dead figure is a one-day count from interested parties. It should be read with that limit. What does not depend on either side’s arithmetic is the displacement number from IOM and the territorial fact of the Red Sea coast. Those two measurements will still be there when the next 24-hour death toll is issued.