At least five people, including three children, have been killed amidst escalating tit-for-tat attacks between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Following this violence, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the European Union have expressed full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and strongly condemned the Houthi attacks. Al Jazeera reported that Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence Agency stated a Yemeni resident was killed and two others injured when debris from a destroyed Houthi drone fell in Taif Governorate. This marks the first fatality in Saudi Arabia since the Houthis intensified their attacks this month.
Meanwhile, the Houthis claimed that “Saudi enemy aircraft” struck three communication towers in Yemen’s Taiz province. According to Al-Masirah TV, one civilian was killed and another injured in an attack in the city of Abs. Later, Houthi-affiliated media reported that three children were killed and several others injured in an attack by Saudi-backed forces.
Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi flatly rejected Saudi claims regarding the destruction of a drone aimed at Mecca. In a live broadcast, he dismissed the Saudi allegations as “heinous lies” and propaganda, asserting that preserving the sanctity of Mecca is paramount to them and that their actions are taken solely in self-defense.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei stated that while attacks on any holy site are condemnable, the Houthis cannot be held guilty based merely on a claim of a drone being destroyed. Alluding to Israel, he also raised the possibility that the incident could be a “false flag” operation.
Iranian sources confirmed to Reuters that China is quietly attempting to restrain the Houthis through Iran to bring the situation under control. Separately, citing the “Mecca Agreement” with Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif indicated that the time has come to implement the pact; as part of this process, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi spoke by phone with Pakistan’s Army Chief Asim Munir regarding the regional situation. Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s Saudi-backed Presidential Leadership Council, has claimed that the Houthis have suffered heavy losses on multiple fronts—including Taiz and Marib—and that their presence in the Red Sea is temporary.
