Houthis target Saudi base as Iran denies involvement in Yemen war

The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains stalemated.(AFP) — Yemen’s Houthis launched a fresh barrage of missile and drone attacks on Saudi military targets Monday, as Iran denied any involvement in the country’s revived civil war.The group, fighting the Saudi-backed, internationally recognized government, last week seized control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which has become vital as the wider U.S.-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.The Houthis said they fired dozens of drones and missiles at the kingdom, prompting Saudi Civil Defense to issue brief alerts in the neighboring cities of Khamis Mushait and Abha.Later Houthi missile attacks in western Yemen killed eight troops from Yemeni government forces, two military sources with the Aden-based administration told AFP.A Khamis Mushait resident told AFP he heard “intense blasts” that left fires burning for a “long time.”“Honestly, we couldn’t sleep at all.”The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains stalemated. But U.S. President Donald Trump said Monday he was open to holding talks with Iran.“The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage - The concept of which we are open to,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.Wider regional warMonday, a proposed meeting between Gulf states and Iran over the future of Hormuz was postponed, with Tehran accusing Riyadh of using Yemen as a “pretext” to delay the talks.Tehran has long supported the Houthis, a member of its anti-Israel “axis of resistance,” including with weapons and technology, but analysts dispute the extent to which Iran is behind the renewed fighting.“Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters Monday, saying the Houthis are “entirely independent actors who make their decisions based on their own interests.”Iran has previously threatened to open “new fronts,” including Bab al-Mandab, and the Houthi offensive has sent oil prices soaring once again, with the lengthy route through the Suez Canal and around Africa now the only secure route for Saudi oil to reach key Asian markets.Yemen’s prolonged civil war had been dormant for four years before bursting back into life in July over an Iranian flight to the capital, Sanaa, as it became the latest conflict drawn into the wider regional war.The Houthis’ military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said Monday that the group’s latest strikes targeted “fighter jet hangars, radars, runways, ammunition depots” at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, in retaliation for airstrikes by Riyadh.Later, two government military sources told AFP Houthi missile strikes killed eight Yemeni troops in positions between Marib and Al-Jawf governorates and wounded several others.The Houthis’ Al-Masirah channel reported the group had carried out strikes in the same area as reinforcements arrived.Forced to fleeYemeni government forces Sunday said they had recaptured positions in the southwestern province of Taiz from Houthi fighters and carried out airstrikes, telling the official Saba news agency they killed at least 10 gunmen.Last week, American media reported U.S. President Donald Trump had rejected a personal request from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, to intervene in the war.The Saudi crown prince received U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper in Jeddah on Monday to discuss “the latest developments in the region,” according to Saudi news agency SPA.The U.S. admiral traveled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for urgent coordination meetings, according to U.S. news site Axios.The Houthis, whose heartland is among Yemen’s Zaidi Muslims in the country’s north, seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014 at the outset of the civil war, driving the government to Aden in the south.The following year, Saudi Arabia led a coalition to intervene on the side of the government, launching wave after wave of airstrikes as the conflict escalated into one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.In 2025, the United Nations warned that 17 million Yemenis were struggling to eat and a further 1 million faced extreme hunger.Monday, the U.N. migration agency said the renewed fighting in the Arab world’s poorest country had forced 93,864 people to flee their homes.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads