Yemen civil war

Yemen's government said its forces recaptured military positions and strategic heights east of al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf governorate, and seized weapons and ammunition depots, according to the army's media centre. The Houthis said they had thwarted government advances in al-Jawf and neighbouring Marib, Al Jazeera reported.

The UN human rights chief, High Commissioner Volker Türk, demanded an independent investigation into the death of Mohammad el Shami, a UN human rights office staff member held by the Houthi de facto authorities since 6 June 2024. His family said he died more than a month ago and learned of it only recently.

UNHCR said more than 280,000 people in Yemen have been displaced by the fighting, and that aid teams cannot reach many of them because it is too dangerous. It said its appeal for Yemen was 19 per cent funded. About 9,500 refugees shelter in Kharaz camp in Lahj, close to the front line.

The Houthis said they carried out six attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia on Thursday, including the Ras Tanura and Rabigh oil refineries, Saudi Aramco facilities in Abqaiq and airports in Riyadh and Dammam. Saudi Civil Defense said debris from two intercepted missiles injured a Saudi citizen in Riyadh and damaged a home and a vehicle, Anadolu reported.

The Houthi health ministry said a Saudi strike on a residential area in Taiz province killed 12 people and critically injured three, in an initial toll shared by the Saba news agency, Agence France Presse reported. The strike hit the homes of two families in Al-Barah, Maqbana district.

Yemeni authorities said two civilians were injured and Aden International Airport was damaged on Wednesday when two ballistic missiles, which they said the Houthis launched, targeted it, suspending operations. Transport Minister Mohsen Haidara Al-Omari said normal operations resumed on Thursday after urgent runway repairs, Anadolu reported.

Houthi media said a Saudi strike on a petrol station in the city of Hazm, in northwestern Jawf province, killed at least 12 people on Wednesday. Al-Masirah TV reported 12 dead and 10 wounded 'including women and children', Agence France Presse reported.

The Saudi-led coalition said its air defenses intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, Anadolu reported. The announcement gave no details on the intended targets, casualties or damage.

Egypt's House of Representatives voted to authorise President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to provide military support to Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks, should Riyadh request assistance, Reuters reported. El-Sisi had said any Egyptian military action would be limited to protecting Saudi territory and borders, not attacking Yemen.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said its forces destroyed four ballistic missile launchers and five tunnels used by the Houthis to store missiles, and attacked a missile depot, AFP and Reuters reported. The Houthis claimed a ballistic missile attack on Riyadh's airport; al-Maliki said Saudi air defences intercepted a missile launched towards Riyadh.

Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport resumed flights, international from Terminal 2 and domestic from Terminal 1, after operations halted on 10 October when a Houthi attack killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree warned the airport remained a 'military target', Al Jazeera reported.

Debris from two intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles injured a Saudi citizen and an Asian expatriate resident in Khamis Mushayt and Ahad Rafidah, a Saudi Civil Defense spokesperson said. The coalition later said it intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired toward southern Saudi Arabia.

Al Jazeera reported that the Houthis advanced on Jabal Sabr, the mountain overlooking Taiz, which has become the focus of fighting between the Houthis and Yemen's government forces. Houthi fighters have besieged the city and cut off the main road to Aden, it said.

Saudi Civil Defence said shrapnel from two intercepted ballistic missiles, suspected to have been fired by the Houthis, fell in Jeddah, Taif, Rabigh and Wadi Al-Mughammas in Mecca province. The Houthis denied targeting Muslim holy sites. The Gulf Cooperation Council's secretary-general called the strikes a grave violation of the sanctity of the Holy Sites.

The Houthi-run Yemen News Agency said Saudi aircraft carried out airstrikes on Sanaa, in the Asr and Hamdan areas, and on Mokha, claiming civilians were killed and wounded without giving figures. Riyadh did not immediately respond. The Saudi-led coalition said earlier that two Houthi ballistic missiles fired toward Taif and Yanbu were intercepted, Anadolu reported.

Yemeni authorities said the Houthis targeted Aden International Airport, a port in the al-Tawahi district and two coast guard facilities with ballistic missiles, Anadolu reported. No casualties were reported. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed strikes on a military gathering at al-Nasr camp and a naval base in Aden.

OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said Taiz City had been cut off for 20 days, with access roads cut and very little fuel, food or other supplies reaching it. He said water production in the city had fallen by about half and truck water cost roughly tripled. WFP said more than 800,000 people in Taiz were cut off from assistance.

The State Department ordered the departure of non-essential staff and families of US government employees from Saudi Arabia, including at the embassy in Riyadh and its satellite consulates, the Associated Press reported, citing deadly Houthi attacks and fears of escalation.

Saudi civil aviation authority GACA said two people, a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident, were killed and eight injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam. The energy ministry said a Filipino and a Nepali were killed by debris from a drone intercepted at the Shaybah oil field. Arab News attributed the attacks to the Houthis.

Yemen TV reported that the Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Aden airport, without saying whether it hit or caused casualties. Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree claimed the strike targeted the Saudi operations room at the Badr camp in Aden, Anadolu reported.

The UK government announced it would deploy Royal Air Force Typhoon fighter jets to Saudi Arabia for defensive missions against Houthi missile and drone attacks, but not offensive strikes, and would extend air-to-air refueling support for Saudi defensive air operations, including operations targeting Houthi military assets in Yemen.

A Houthi attack on a government security forces training camp in Shabwa province killed 73 people, the provincial media office said, with 14 missing and more than 200 injured, according to governor Awad al-Wazir. Local authorities said three ballistic missiles hit on Monday. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said the camp was run by Saudi forces.

An airstrike killed at least nine people, including five children and two women, and wounded 19 others in Sahar district of Saada province, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said, according to the Associated Press. Its spokesperson blamed Saudi Arabia, which did not immediately comment.

Egypt's top security body, the National Defense Council chaired by President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, decided to provide 'all possible forms of support' to enable Saudi Arabia to defend its security against Houthi attacks, according to a presidential statement. It gave no details. Sissi had asked parliament to authorize deploying troops abroad.

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward Khamis Mushait in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Saudi Civil Defense issued, then lifted, danger alerts in Riyadh, Abha and Khamis Mushait. The coalition said it had earlier destroyed four drones over the Riyadh region, Eastern Province and southern Saudi Arabia.

UNHCR said more than 250,000 people were displaced in Yemen between 1 August and 17 October, up from nearly 213,000 previously reported, with Taiz accounting for 76% of departures.

President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi said Egypt would take all necessary measures to defend Saudi Arabia if Riyadh requested assistance, and called for parliamentary authorization. Egypt's parliament scheduled a plenary session for 18 October to consider the request, Al-Ahram reported.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said the Houthis released 159 people they had recently detained, in a unilateral release by authorities in Sanaa outside the 2018 Stockholm Agreement. The Houthis said the detainees had voluntarily surrendered without fighting and were freed under an amnesty.

Three civilians, including two women, were killed and five injured in Houthi shelling in the Sabir al-Mawadim district of Taiz province, the government-run Office of Siege Affairs said.

A Houthi missile strike on Al Maashiq presidential palace in Aden killed five security personnel and injured 16 others, The National reported. It was the first Houthi strike on the seat of government since fighting resumed. The government said it would keep operating from Aden.

The Houthis said they would press on with attacks on airports and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia and urged shipping companies, civilians and workers to evacuate them, Reuters reported. The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile fired towards Riyadh. Authorities have closed Riyadh's airport until 17 October.

The UN World Food Programme said intensifying fighting had cut off life-saving assistance to 800,000 people in Yemen, including more than 600,000 in Taiz city whom it and partners cannot reach. Wheat flour stocks in Taiz are nearly depleted, it said.

A woman was killed and three people were injured in Taiz province when a Houthi missile malfunctioned and fell after a failed launch attempt from Al-Shamayatayn, state-run Aljoumhouriya TV reported, citing local sources. There was no comment from the Houthis.

An attack on Tuesday on Aramco's headquarters in Dhahran started a fire that spread between the sixth and 10th floors, three people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Saudi Arabia's energy ministry said the Houthi strike caused a limited fire.

Media outlets affiliated with the Houthis said air strikes by Saudi-backed forces hit the Yemeni Oil Company's al-Sabah central station in Sanaa after the Saudi-led coalition ordered civilians to evacuate it. Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki accused the Houthis of using the site for missiles and drones; the company said its storage was empty.

Yemeni government forces said they took commanding heights around the Maas camp in the Medghal district of Marib governorate, and positions at al-Muqailat and Jabal Zajjar north of Harib district, a military source told Al Jazeera.

One person was killed and 11 were wounded when a projectile struck the airport in Riyadh, Al Jazeera reported.

Saudi Arabia said King Fahd International Airport in Dammam had been attacked and that another attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh had caused injuries. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed both, and attacks on Aramco's Shedgum gas plant and Tanajib oil facility in the Eastern Province.

Yemen's cabinet, meeting in Aden under Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani, approved a draft law designating the Houthi group a terrorist organization and criminalizing its activities and financing, and ordered the procedures for its ratification to be completed.

A Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed 12 people and injured 309, Saudi authorities said. An Indian national died of his injuries on 11 October, raising the toll to 13, the Indian Embassy said.

President Donald Trump said the US may join Saudi strikes against the Houthis in Yemen after the attack on the Riyadh airport, telling reporters Washington would make a decision quickly.

UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg told the Security Council that Yemen had slid back into full-scale war, with civilians bearing the brunt, and urged members to back mediation, saying battlefield gains could not substitute for negotiations.

Houthi attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed an airline pilot and two other Saudi citizens and wounded several people, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said. A Houthi military spokesperson said a ballistic missile had hit the airport.

Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said Houthi-claimed attacks on Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh had killed three civilians, a Moroccan and an Algerian woman at Abha and a Sudanese citizen in Riyadh, and injured 36.

Two missiles fired by the Houthis targeted Aden International Airport, in the government's interim capital, early on 7 October, local security authorities said, reporting no casualties.

Government-aligned Homeland Shield Forces launched an operation to retake al-Waziiya district in Taiz governorate, the army's media centre said, claiming hills overlooking al-Mansoura; the Houthis said they had repelled the advance.

The Nation's Shield Forces said their troops had captured the highest peak in Jabal Habashi district of Taiz province after clashes with the Houthis, who did not immediately comment.

The Taiz military axis said government forces had retaken the Jabal al-Manzara, al-Asharif and Dhiban mountains in Hayfan district, south of Taiz.

Houthi shelling killed at least six civilians and injured four, among them women and children, in villages of the Al-Mawasit and Al-Misrakh districts south of Taiz, the state-run Saba news agency reported; the Houthis did not comment.

The Houthis said a ballistic missile had directly hit Abha International Airport and disrupted air traffic, and that missiles fired at Saudi forces at Al-Daghareer camp in Jazan caused dozens of casualties; Saudi Arabia did not immediately comment.

The Saudi-led coalition said it had destroyed a depot holding 20 ballistic missiles at a mountainous site in Saada province and struck a missile launch site in Sanaa, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Yemen's armed forces said they had advanced for a second day on the southern front of Marib province, taking the Thamad, al-Qaima and al-Muqailat mountain ranges; a military source quoted by the state news agency Saba said the clashes left dozens of Houthis killed, wounded or captured.

Saudi Arabia's energy minister said the East-West oil pipeline to the Red Sea was pumping 5.8 million barrels a day again, two days after an attack had halted it.

Yemen's army said about 100 Houthi fighters were killed and 150 wounded in operations on fronts north, south and west of Taiz city, and the Saudi-led coalition said its aircraft had struck 324 high-value targets in the offensive.

The Houthis said on the night of 5 October that they had struck Riyadh airport and a refinery belonging to Saudi Aramco; AFP said claims by both sides had been impossible to verify independently.

Yemen's military said its forces had driven the Houthis from areas around the Bab el-Mandeb strait and from the port of Mocha. The Houthis said they still held all the territory they seized in September, and military sources with the government would not confirm Mocha's recapture, AFP reported.

The Saudi-led coalition confirmed it had joined the government's offensive, saying 100 of its fighter jets were providing air support, and said Saudi naval forces had launched an operation against the Houthis in Hodeidah governorate.

Attacks on the evening of 5 October hit King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz airport in Jazan and Najran airport, wounding three people and causing material damage, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said. The Houthis said they had targeted airports and military sites across southern Saudi Arabia.

Turkey and Pakistan agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh to prepare forces and other military support for rapid deployment to Saudi Arabia under their trilateral defence pact, as Houthi attacks on the kingdom continued.

IOM said fighting had displaced more than 184,000 people in Yemen between 1 August and 4 October, most of them since the start of September, including 6,474 people on 4 October alone.

Houthi forces cut the main supply route linking Taiz to Aden, the government's interim capital, effectively encircling Taiz city, which remains under government control, AFP reported.

An attack again halted pumping on Saudi Arabia's East-West oil pipeline to the Red Sea, a key export route while the Strait of Hormuz is closed, a source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP.

Rashad al-Alimi, chair of the Presidential Leadership Council, announced military operations to retake all remaining Houthi-held territory 'until the country is liberated from the Houthis'. The Houthis claimed missile and drone attacks on Saudi Aramco sites in Riyadh and Khurais.

The Saudi-led coalition's spokesman called Houthi claims of an attack on Riyadh 'misleading'.

The Houthis said they attacked an Aramco facility in Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones in retaliation for Saudi strikes on Sanaa. A large plume of smoke and fire was seen near an Aramco facility in Riyadh; Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm an attack.

Fighting around Taiz killed dozens: the Houthis reported 55 of their fighters killed and government sources told AFP 26 troops had died. The Houthis said Saudi Arabia had launched 94 strikes on areas they hold in 24 hours.

The government's military spokesperson said its warplanes struck Houthi positions in Taiz province 20 times in three hours, as fighting spread across the province; Reuters said the conflict had displaced tens of thousands.

AFP correspondents heard loud explosions in Sanaa as the government's military said it had struck Houthi targets in Sanaa, Saada and Taiz.

The Saudi-led coalition said a Houthi drone struck an electricity station in Medina that supplies the Prophet's Mosque; the Houthis denied involvement.

The chair of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, called for a general mobilisation and offered an amnesty to Houthi fighters who defect.

France said it was sending forces to protect Saudi Arabia's Yanbu oil terminal, as Pakistan and Turkey prepared military talks with Riyadh.

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted six ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis towards Taif and the Yanbu area.

The Houthis seized the Red Sea city of Mocha from government-aligned forces, extending their control over the Bab el-Mandeb.

The Houthis launched missiles and drones at Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran in southwestern Saudi Arabia; the Saudi-led coalition said at least 73 people were wounded.

Air strikes hit Sanaa airport; the government said it had targeted the runway to stop an Iranian aircraft landing, and the Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia. That evening the Houthis fired missiles and drones at Saudi Arabia, saying a 'de-escalation phase' had ended.