The chairman of Yemenâs Presidential Leadership Council says the âDawn of Yemenâ military operation has begun to ârestore state institutions and liberate the capital Sanaa and end the Houthi militia coupâ.
âWith Godâs help, the will of our people, the bravery of our armed forces and all military formations, and the support of our brothers and friends, Yemen will move towards a new dawn of freedom, peace, and stability,â Rashad al-Alimi said on X.
The army of Yemenâs internationally recognised government says it has âsucceeded in controllingâ the Bab al-Mandeb strait and recaptured a nearby airport in the coastal town of Dhubab in the governorate of Taiz.
In a series of posts on X, Brigadier-General Majid al-Nuzaili said government forces took over the airport and tightened control in the area.
â The â Saudi Arabia-backed head of â Yemenâs Presidential Leadership Council, â Rashad al-Alimi, has announced the start of military operations to retake the â remaining territory held by â the Iran-backed Houthi armed group â and restore â state â authority across the country.
In a televised address, al-Alimi said on Sunday the internationally recognised governmentâs forces would extend âthe authority of the state and its institutions over the entire national territoryâ.
Loud explosions have been reported in Yemenâs Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, while missile, drone and artillery attacks targeted Houthi positions across the country, according to the military.
Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, Yemenâs military spokesman, wrote on X on Saturday that the armed forces are carrying out a military operation âon legitimate vital military targets in Sanaaâ, adding that they are âcapable of executing strategic attacks against the Houthisâ.
More than 100,000 Yemeni troops could â be mobilized in the offensive, depending on the scale, the officials all said.
Spokespeople for the Saudi and Yemeni governments, the Houthi group and the US military didn‘t immediately respond to requests for comment about the Saudi plans.
The US sent one additional Patriot battery to Saudi Arabia to protect a key oil facility and another to Qatar to protect a natural gas facility, Axios reported Thursday.
The deployments are notable because Patriot batteries are in high demand worldwide, and the US has a limited supply. The US has just 33 batteries stationed at home and 27 batteries stationed overseas, according to the nonprofit Missile Defence Alliance.
Pakistan sent four cargo planes of armaments to the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government of Yemen in September as the kingdom mobilises to try to push back a sweeping Houthi offensive.
Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, the pact‘s three members, will decide ânext steps at the meeting, Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar told a news âconference. He said the date would be confirmed later.
The Israeli air force was preparing to send âSuper Hercules planes to pick up Israeli passengers, one of the sources said.
The passengers were set to continue their journey on flydubai aircraft, âthe airline said.
Israeli sources say a co-pilot on board a FlyDubai flight to Tel Aviv stabbed the captain in an attempt to hijack the plane. CNN News Central‘s Kate Bolduan gets the latest from CNN Correspondent Jeremy Diamond.
Turkeyâs Chief of General Staff Selcuk Bayraktaroglu (R), Marshal Syed Asim Munir (L), Commander of the Pakistan Defence Forces and the Army, and General Fayyadh Bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili (C), Chief of the General Staff of Saudi Arabia, posing during a meeting in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia
Macron emphasized that the French military did not intend to take part in any fighting. „Not to involve ourselves in any conflict, but to protect the site,“ he clarified. Macron also repeated that France was seeking to achieve the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz through diplomatic means, in particular by holding talks with „the Iranians“ and „the Omanis.“
There is another crucial consideration: the Houthis have so far avoided attacking American ships under an understanding reached with Washington.
Trump told Fox News on Sunday that the United States remained in communication with the group and said the Houthis had agreed not to fight the US.
A senior Houthi official separately told AP that the group did not intend to target American vessels. Oman-mediated discussions have also reaffirmed the 2025 US-Houthi ceasefire arrangement.
Trump initially resisted launching airstrikes during meetings with advisers Wednesday but later ordered the Pentagon to prepare for military action following a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Thursday, the report said.
The Saudi crown prince urged Trump to intervene directly amid rapid territorial gains by the Houthis in Yemen, according to the newspaper.
The administration did not give a reason for the change of plans. Trump was originally scheduled to depart Camp David later on Sunday local time.
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Trumpâs return to the White House came after the US State Department issued an alert to US citizens in the Middle East, warning that hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis in Yemen have âthe potential to escalate rapidlyâ.
Saudi Arabia on Saturday confirmed that Yemenâs Houthi rebels tried to attack its capital with a ballistic missile, the first targeting of Riyadh since the escalation in fighting with the Tehran-backed rebels that has opened a new front in the Iran war.
The statement by the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis came long after the dawn attempt, which the coalition said was intercepted. Some residents in Riyadh heard an explosion. Later, some saw a plume of smoke near the airport. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
Trump sent the proposed agreement to Congress in August, opening a 90-day window for lawmakersâ review and giving them an opportunity to try to pass a resolution of disapproval.
Democrats and nonproliferation advocates have criticized the nuclear pact for not barring âSaudi Arabia from enriching uranium or reprocessing nuclear waste, two potential pathways to a nuclear weapon. The United Arab Emirates agreed to such measures, known as the gold standard, in its 2009 civil nuclear deal with Washington.
The Commission condemns the attacks carried out by the Houthis against civilian targets and economic infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, as well as attacks and threats against commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
The Commission expresses particular concern over reports of attempted attacks targeting Makkah and other holy cities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It stresses that holy sites, as well as civilians and pilgrims visiting them, must be fully protected and must under no circumstances become targets of military action.
The Commission further strongly reaffirms the principle of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, in accordance with international law. Any action aimed at obstructing or threatening navigation along this strategic maritime route poses a serious risk not only to the littoral States, but also to international trade, global supply chains, energy security and African economies.
The organisation also emphasised that the security of the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb strait was âa major strategic interest for Africa, particularly for the States of the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea littoral Statesâ.
The commission joined a number of other states, global organisations, and individuals that also came forward to condemn ongoing attacks.
âThis proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a major non-Nato ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf region,â the State Department said in its official notification.
Officials said the proposed deal would enhance Saudi Arabiaâs ability to deter existing and future threats, strengthen its homeland defence and improve interoperability with US, regional and Nato forces.
Fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces and their Saudi backers has killed 63 people in the last 24 hours, AFP reported on Thursday, citing military sources from both sides.
At least 23 government soldiers were killed in missile and drone attacks by the Houthis in two southwestern provinces, a government official said, while Houthi military sources reported 40 fighters killed in Saudi air strikes and fighting on the ground.
Saudi Arabia and Yemenâs Iran-backed Houthis exchanged fresh strikes across their border on Thursday and Yemenis took to boats in the Red Sea to escape fighting, as the spreading West Asia war created new threats to global oil supplies.
The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen‘s Houthis said on Wednesday it had shot down a drone south of Mecca a day earlier, before it could enter the restricted airspace over Islam‘s holiest city. The coalition said „the security of the Two Holy Mosques and the pilgrims is a red line“ and promised deterrent measures against the Iran-backed group.
In der internationalen Berichterstattung wird das Ergebnis ĂŒberwiegend als militĂ€rischer Erfolg AnsarAllahs dargestellt. Ein genauerer Blick auf die von CNN rekonstruierten AblĂ€ufe zeigt jedoch ein anderes Bild: weniger einen Sieg der einen Seite als einen aussergewöhnlichen Zusammenbruch der anderen â mit direkter saudischer und US-amerikanischer Beteiligung an diesem Zusammenbruch.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian says Tehran is ânot at war with Saudi Arabiaâ, as tensions rise over Houthi attacks on the kingdom, Al Jazeera reported.
Pezeshkian said the Houthis have âtheir own issuesâ, distancing Iran from the groupâs actions.
A 2022 truce had reduced large-scale combat and allowed Saudi Arabia to distance itself from the conflict, but it left the capital under Houthi control and did nothing to establish centralized control over the country and its heavy weapons.
Now, as the Houthis advance rapidly toward government strongholds in the south, Yemenâs military is scrambling to regroup and make progress on its planned offensive in the north. The question now is whether Saudi Arabia, the U.S., and other powers will now intervene to help blunt the Houthisâ rapid advances.
An Iraqi âmilitary commander was âdismissed early on Saturday âafter âinvestigations confirmed the latest â drone âattacks targeting Saudi âArabia originated from Iraq, according âto a âstatement by Iraq‘s âprime â minister‘s office.
The commander led operations in âMaysan âprovince â in southern Iraq, âaccording to âthe â statement.
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Washington, D.C. â Following the Trump Administrationâs submission to Congress on a proposed U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement, referred to as a â123 agreement,â Oregonâs U.S. Senator Jeff Merkleyâco-chair of the bicameral Nuclear Weapons and Arms Control Working Group and a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committeeâissued the following statement:
âWith this deal, President Trump is not only triggering a nuclear arms race in the Middle East but also weakening Americaâs security and standing on the world stage.
âThe Presidentâs decision to provide Saudi Arabia with a nuclear deal that does not meet the bipartisan Gold Standard nor mandate the Additional Protocol, both necessary to ensure sensitive U.S. technology is not used to help build a nuclear bomb, is dangerous and a strategic mistake for our national security.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the Kingdom strongly condemned the targeting of the vessel by Iran and expressed its rejection of Iranian attacks against Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait.
âThe Kingdom also condemns the Iranian attacks targeting Jordan, Bahrain and Kuwait, and affirms its full support and solidarity with the brotherly countries in the measures they take to protect their security and sovereignty from any threat,â the ministry said in a statement.
Two Filipino sailors were killed in an attack on an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, Saudi Arabia‘s national shipping company Bahri said on Wednesday.
„Bahri confirms that its vessel SIDR was involved in a security incident while transiting the Strait of Hormuz“ on the evening of 31 August, the carrier said on X, confirming „the loss of its two Filipino seafarers as a result“ of the attack.