Houthis attack Aden after accusing Saudi-led coalition of killing 16 in Yemen

Yemen's Houthi movement said on Saturday it had attacked the southern city of Aden, the interim seat of the internationally recognised government, shortly after accusing Saudi Arabia of killing 16 people in air strikes on the capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port city of Hodeida.

The Saudi-led coalition said earlier on Saturday that it had intercepted two missiles aimed at the Saudi cities of Taif and Yanbu in the kingdom's west. Explosions were then heard in Aden, where the government backed by Riyadh has its temporary headquarters.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that the group's forces had targeted "Saudi enemy concentrations" at the Al-Nasr camp and at a naval base in Aden. There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition or the Yemeni government on the reported attack, and the accounts could not be independently verified.

The Houthi-run Al-Masirah broadcaster reported a series of what it described as "Saudi enemy air strikes" on Sanaa, including one on a house that it said killed at least four people and wounded several others. A separate strike on a residential building for cement factory workers in Sanaa governorate killed six women and one child and wounded three others, according to the outlet. It later reported that five members of one family — a man, two of his children and his two wives — were killed in a strike on their home in Hodeida.

All the casualty figures cited for the strikes on Sanaa, its surrounding governorate and Hodeida came from the Houthi-controlled broadcaster. Saudi Arabia had not commented on the reports at the time of publication, and independent verification was not immediately possible.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia's civil defence agency broadcast warnings of "potential danger" for four western regions, including Taif, Yanbu and Mecca, which houses Islam's holiest site. Residents were told to "proceed to the nearest safe place". The alerts were withdrawn minutes later. The agency also repeated a legal warning against sharing images or information related to "countering missiles and drones".

The kingdom has come under repeated attack from the Houthis in recent weeks as Yemen's civil war has reignited. The group has targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and airports. An attack on Riyadh airport earlier this month killed 13 people and wounded dozens more, while this week the United States ordered non-essential embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, citing the Houthi threat.

Yanbu is a major oil export hub on the Red Sea coast and has allowed Riyadh to route much of its crude exports around Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, giving the port particular strategic importance.

Yemen's civil war pits the Iran-aligned Houthis against the Saudi-supported, internationally recognised government. Fighting had been largely dormant since a ceasefire in 2022 but resumed in July as the wider West Asia war, which began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February, spread across the region.

Riyadh has led a military coalition in Yemen since 2015, a intervention that has devastated the country and contributed to what the United Nations describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. The Houthis seized control of Yemen's entire Red Sea coast in a rapid offensive last month, further destabilising the region and disrupting oil markets.

Egypt has suggested sending troops to help defend Saudi Arabia, while Britain and France have offered forces to protect the Gulf kingdom.