Saudi coalition downs Houthi ballistic missile amid fierce Yemen counter-offensive

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - This screen grab taken from video footage released by the pro-Yemeni government Southern Giants Brigades on October 6, 2026 shows a fighter firing from the back of a ‘technical’ pickup truck during clashes with Houthis in Taiz province. — AFP pic

First Published: Wednesday, 07 Oct 2026 12:10 PM MYT

Last Modified: Wednesday, 07 Oct 2026 12:15 PM MYT

SANAA, Oct 7 — The Saudi-led coalition battling Yemen’s Houthis said yesterday that it intercepted a missile fired by the group at the kingdom, which backs the pro-government forces that have launched a major operation to recapture lost territory.

The Iran-backed Houthis had earlier claimed an attack on the Saudi capital’s main airport and yesterday denied being pushed back by government forces.

Late Monday, Yemen’s military said it had removed the pro-Iran group from areas around the Bab al-Mandab strait, a Red Sea chokepoint, and the port city of Mocha.

Claims by both sides in Yemen have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation on the ground moving fast and access for journalists difficult.

After a four-year ceasefire, Yemen’s long-running conflict has reignited during the wider Middle East war, which has roiled world energy markets and snarled trade routes.

Sources on both sides told AFP yesterday that fighting across the country had killed more than 270 government troops and Houthi fighters over the past day.

Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the coalition, said on X that it “intercepted and destroyed” a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, home to an airbase.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group still held all territory seized last month when they swept through coastal areas along the Red Sea, a vital global shipping route.

Houthi fighters “have full control over all their advances on the ground”, he posted on Telegram.

Saree said they had carried out dozens of strikes in the past few hours targeting government forces in Yemen’s Al-Jawf and Marib regions, while also attacking Taiz governorate.

He later said the Houthis had pushed back government forces “as they attempted to advance towards our forces’ positions southwest of Al-Waziya”, a strategic position to secure the Bab al-Mandab strait.

The Houthis’ health ministry meanwhile said yesterday that a Saudi airstrike killed six members of a family, including four children, in a village in Hajjah governorate.

On Monday, the Houthis said they had struck Riyadh airport and a refinery belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco.

Loud explosions rattled the Saudi capital on Monday evening. They were followed by another explosion yesterday that echoed through northern parts of the city, residents told AFP.

Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport is facing frequent temporary closures of its airspace, according to tracking website Flightradar24.

Saudi authorities have not publicly acknowledged the closures or confirmed any strikes targeting the facility.

But yesterday the civil aviation authority said at least three people were wounded in attacks on Jazan and Najran airports near the Yemen border a day earlier.

Saudi Arabia, the main backer of the Yemeni government, has been providing air support for the counter-offensive launched by government forces.

‘Mocha is a war zone’ 

Government forces claimed late on Monday that they had achieved “victories on several fronts”. But military sources with the government refrained from confirming Mocha’s recapture, only saying they had cut the one supply route to the area.

They also said they expelled the Houthis from several areas in Taiz in the southwest, where fighting has surged in recent days.

Mohammed, a 33-year-old charity worker who fled from Mocha to Aden, said “people there are terrified”.

“Life in Mocha has come to a complete standstill — there is no movement at all. The city has become a war zone,” he told AFP.

Government forces also reported advances in the southern part of the governorate of Marib.

Yemen’s government has announced a goal of retaking all Houthi territory — home to most of the country’s population, and much of it held for more than a decade.

Yemen’s civil war flared up again in July after years of relative calm, opening a new front in the wider Middle East war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

The Houthis last month seized control of Yemen’s entire western coastline along the Red Sea in the country’s deadliest fighting in years.

They have regularly targeted oil and military installations in Saudi Arabia and declared a maritime blockade on its ships.

Pakistan and Turkey on Monday pledged to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a mutual defence pact.

Hamish Kinnear, an analyst with UK-based Verisk Maplecroft, said the deployment “is likely to mean Turkey and Pakistan helping to intercept Houthi missiles and drones”.

He added that Turkey and Pakistan “will emphasise that their deployment is to support the Saudis and counter the Houthis, not to antagonise Iran and support the US”.

But “that distinction will become harder to maintain if the regional conflict continues to escalate”. — AFP