Loud explosions shook several districts of Sanaa on Saturday, with Houthi-linked media attributing the blasts to Saudi air strikes on the Yemeni capital, which is held by the Iran-backed rebel group. One reporter in the city heard at least five explosions in different areas, while another correspondent watched two warplanes firing missiles on Sanaa.

Blasts across the capital

Al-Masirah TV, a Houthi-affiliated channel, reported "Saudi aggression" against the capital without saying which targets were hit or whether anyone was hurt. Earlier on Saturday, the same channel reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in Saada, a northwestern governorate and Houthi stronghold.

How the fighting resumed

The Houthis had accused Saudi Arabia earlier in the week of bombing Sanaa on Thursday night - the first such attack since fighting between the two sides resumed in July. After several calm years, Yemen slid back into civil war in July, pitting the Iran-backed Houthis against the Saudi-backed internationally recognised government.

Hostilities reignited after four years of a fragile truce when Iran flew a Houthi delegation to Sanaa without seeking Saudi authorisation, breaking a practice that had held for a decade. Riyadh answered with strikes on Sanaa airport, and the Houthis in turn attacked Saudi territory for the first time since 2022. The Houthis control most of northwest Yemen, including Sanaa, while the government sits in Aden and holds much of the larger but less populated south and east.

Taiz battle and Houthi advances

The Houthis have mounted a fast offensive that put coastal regions along the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait under their control, and have struck Saudi targets including oil infrastructure and the capital Riyadh while declaring a naval blockade on Saudi ships in the Red Sea. The fighting of recent days has centred on Taiz, where the battle runs across several fronts, including highlands overlooking the coastal areas the group recently seized. The Houthis have still not taken Taiz city, Yemen's third-largest after Sanaa and Aden.

• •Sources on both sides reported 80 combatants killed in Taiz on Friday.
• •The Houthis said 55 of their fighters died, while government sources told AFP that 26 troops were killed.
• •On Friday the Houthis said Saudi Arabia had carried out 94 strikes against Houthi-held areas within 24 hours.
• •Saudi authorities said a Houthi projectile damaged a school in Najran, near the Yemeni border.

Aramco fire and the US response

An AFP journalist saw flames and smoke rising from a facility belonging to the Saudi oil giant Aramco south of Riyadh on Saturday, though the circumstances remained unclear. Aramco, majority-owned by the Saudi state, has come under repeated Houthi attack in recent weeks.

Saudi Arabia has reportedly asked the United States for help, a request US President Donald Trump has so far refused. Axios reported on Saturday, citing three US officials, that senior members of the Trump administration's cabinet met the previous day to discuss Yemen and the Iran conflict, in a gathering that was never officially announced.

At the time of reporting, neither the Houthis nor Saudi authorities had commented on the flames and smoke seen rising from the Aramco facility south of Riyadh.