Airstrikes hit homes in a village near Yemen’s capital on Saturday, killing at least 27 people. Most of those killed were women and children, health officials run by the Houthis said. Thirty-six more people were wounded.
The strikes hit al-Shariya village in Bani Hushaysh district, about 15 kilometres north-east of Sanaa. Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said the death toll could rise because people were still trapped under broken houses. He blamed Saudi Arabia for the attack. Saudi officials did not answer questions at once. The Associated Press and Reuters both said they could not check the claim on their own.
Strikes Hit Homes Near Sanaa
Video from Al-Masirah TV, a channel run by the Houthis, showed medical workers carrying injured children out of ambulances. A wounded man covered in dust and wearing an orange first-responder vest was helped out of an ambulance. The pictures showed the fear and rush at the scene as rescue teams tried to reach the hurt.
Abdul-Aziz al-Dailami, the director of Sehatuna Hospital in Sanaa, said many victims were still trapped under rubble. He said first responders were among them. “The strikes keep coming. Just as rescuers arrive, another strike hits.”
He said many of the wounded arrived in very serious condition. They had head, chest and leg injuries and broken bones. Doctors worked to treat them while more patients kept arriving.
Houthi Retaliation Claims
Later on Saturday, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said the group had launched six missile and drone attacks on targets inside Saudi Arabia. He named oil sites run by Aramco, Riyadh airport and Saudi troops. He said the attacks were a reply to the Sanaa strikes and Friday’s market attack. These claims could not be checked on their own either.
On Friday, a strike hit the crowded Al-Hadara market in Al-Wazi’iyah, in Taiz province. Houthi officials said at least 30 people were killed there. Each side blamed the other for that attack.
In all, more than 50 people were killed across Yemen in 24 hours. It was one of the deadliest stretches since fighting restarted. The two days of attacks showed how fast the violence has grown again.
Why Yemen War Escalated Again
Yemen’s war started in 2014, when Houthi fighters took Sanaa and pushed out the government that other countries recognised. Saudi Arabia then led a group of countries that backed the government. That group bombed Houthi areas for years.
The United Nations says at least 150,000 people have died in the war. Many more died from hunger and sickness linked to the fighting. The war has left Yemen in deep crisis for more than a decade.
In 2022, both sides agreed to stop fighting. That pause held for years. It fell apart in summer 2026. The Houthis said Saudi Arabia kept blocking their land. They launched new attacks and took much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and islands near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a narrow sea passage that ships use.
The Houthis also stepped up missile and drone attacks on Saudi oil sites, airports and ships in the Red Sea. Saudi-led forces answered with airstrikes on Houthi areas. Reuters calls the fighting a spillover from the wider clash between the United States and Iran.
This matters because the cost for ordinary people keeps growing. The International Organization for Migration said in October that more than 200,000 people have had to leave their homes since the latest round of fighting began. Aid groups fear Yemen could slide back into a full war and one of the worst hunger crises in the world.
Fighting is heaviest around Taiz, a big city in the south that the Houthis have now ringed. People there struggle to find clean water and food because the Houthis limit movement into the city. For families caught in the middle, the return of airstrikes means more danger and less help.
Human Cost Keeps Rising
The attacks on Saturday and Friday struck homes and a busy market, not battlefields. That is why so many of the dead and hurt were women and children and shoppers. Rescue teams are still searching the rubble near Sanaa, and the toll may rise. Until the fighting stops, each new strike adds to a war that has already taken far too many lives.
| Killed near Sanaa | 27 |
| Wounded near Sanaa | 36 |
| Distance from Sanaa | 15 km northeast |
| Killed in Taiz market attack (Friday) | at least 30 |
| Killed across Yemen in 24 hours | more than 50 |
| People displaced since latest fighting began | more than 200,000 |
| People killed in Yemen war since 2014 | at least 150,000 (UN) |
At least 27 people were killed and 36 wounded, mostly women and children, according to the Houthi-run Health Ministry. The toll may rise as rescue teams search the rubble.
The Houthi-run Health Ministry blames Saudi Arabia for the strikes. Saudi officials did not comment at once, and AP and Reuters said they could not check the claim on their own.
A truce from 2022 held for years, then fell apart in summer 2026. The Houthis pointed to a Saudi blockade of their land, launched new offensives, and strikes from both sides grew worse.
