Yemen's Saudi-backed army claims 1,250 strikes and 700 Houthis killed in 24 hours

Yemen's government forces said Thursday, Oct. 15, that they carried out more than 1,250 "precise targeting operations" against the Iran-backed Houthis in the previous 24 hours. Army spokesman Col. Majed al-Nuzaili said the strikes were part of the recently launched Operation "Dawn of Yemen."

In a post on X, al-Nuzaili said warplanes, drones, field artillery, rocket launchers and snipers were used. He put Houthi losses at roughly 700 fighters and more than 150 vehicles destroyed or disabled, calling both "initial field estimates."

He listed the targets as front-line defences, trenches, firing positions, observation points, command-and-control sites, troop concentrations and supply routes. The army said it took precautions to protect civilians.

The same number, twice

The 700 figure is not new. On Oct. 3, al-Nuzaili said 257 operations across Sanaa, Midi, Baqim, al-Jawf, Marib, al-Bayda and Lahij had killed at least 700 Houthi fighters and destroyed 170 combat vehicles. The day before, he had claimed nearly 500 operations that killed or wounded 1,540.

The tally of strikes has risen about fivefold in under two weeks. The claimed death toll is the same as it was on Oct. 3.

All of these numbers come from the government's own spokesman. The army has reported no casualties of its own, and no independent count of Houthi dead has been published.

Taiz at the center

The heaviest fighting has been around Taiz, the government-held city whose western outskirts have taken sustained Houthi artillery fire. Al-Nuzaili said government forces "continue to bleed the militia and break its assaults" there.

Civilians are caught in it. Al Jazeera's Maha Ali reported from Taiz that residents were appealing for evacuation, and a baby was killed by shrapnel when a shell hit a residential area in Dhubab. Government-run Saba News Agency reported that forces took the Samaa fort southeast of the city after heavy fighting.

The government has also closed the al-Houban crossing, which links Houthi-held al-Houban with Taiz city. An army official cited a Houthi infiltration attempt, nearby attacks and a military build-up. The crossing had reopened to civilians in 2024 after nine years shut.

A 2022 truce collapsed in July, and fighting has intensified since. Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced, and the UN has said three in four households in parts of Yemen are going hungry.

Not all one-way

The government's own commanders paint a more cautious picture than the strike counts. Last month the Houthis seized Yemen's Red Sea coast. Government forces have since stabilised lines across Taiz and the Kahboub Mountains overlooking the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, relying on terrain and tribal coordination, according to Abdul Basir al-Bahr, a senior official in the Taiz Military Axis.

Presidential Leadership Council head Rashad al-Alimi called for a general mobilisation on Sept. 25. Field commanders say it has not yet delivered reinforcements to the front.

The Houthi response

The Houthis are not describing a group on the back foot. In a televised speech last week, leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi told Saudi Arabia to prepare for a long conflict.

"The Yemeni people today possess all the determination and elements of strength, regardless of how long the war lasts," he said. He vowed to keep attacking Saudi targets and confronting Saudi-backed forces in Yemen.

The Houthis have followed through. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said three Saudi nationals were killed and several people of various nationalities injured in two attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday, Oct. 8. Hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed.

The Houthis said that day's wave also targeted Najran Airport and the Royal Saudi Air Force's King Khalid Air Base with cruise and ballistic missiles. Saudi authorities said they intercepted two ballistic missiles fired toward Riyadh, and falling debris damaged a kindergarten and a medical clinic. Earlier attacks on Oct. 6 and 7 on King Khalid and Abha airport left three dead and 36 wounded.

The Houthis also said they hit an Aramco facility in Riyadh. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki rejected that claim as misleading and said it was meant to divert attention from Houthi losses and growing public anger. Saudi authorities have not confirmed a strike on the facility.

The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia for airstrikes on Sanaa and Saada around Oct. 4 but offered no evidence. The Saudi-backed Yemeni army said it carried out those strikes.

American exposure

The US Mission in Saudi Arabia said it was "aware" of the airport attacks and warned that the conflict "has the potential to escalate." US government employees now need "special authorization" to use the Riyadh airport and remain barred from traveling within 20 miles of the Yemen border.

Red Sea shipping and Saudi energy sites are both within reach of the Houthis, and Tehran backs the group. Whether the government's mobilisation produces troops at the Taiz front, and whether the Houthis keep hitting Saudi airports, will show if "Dawn of Yemen" is changing the battlefield or just inflating the scoreboard.