Yemen airstrikes kill 22, wound 30 near Houthi-controlled capital

Airstrikes struck homes in a village near Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Saturday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 30 others, most of them women and children, a spokesman for the Houthi-run Health Ministry said.

Speaking to The Associated Press (AP), ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out the strikes in al-Shariya.

The AP could not independently verify the claim, and Saudi Arabia’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The reported casualties underscored the worsening conflict in Yemen, where a years-long truce collapsed over the summer.

Fighting has escalated between the Iranian-backed Houthis, who control Sanaa and much of the country’s north and west, and their Saudi-backed opponents, who are based in the south and east.

On Friday, an airstrike hit a market in southern Yemen, killing at least 30 people, according to Houthi officials. Both the Houthis and Yemen’s Saudi-backed military blamed each other for the attack.

Footage aired by Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV showing the aftermath of Saturday’s strikes depicted medical staff carrying the limp bodies of young children from ambulances to a local hospital. One girl appeared to have a severe head injury.

Other children lay bloodied and bandaged on stretchers as medical workers treated them. Footage from the village showed destroyed homes reduced to rubble, with dust filling the air as residents sought shelter in nearby agricultural fields.

Alasbahi said in a post on X earlier Saturday that the strikes hit several homes in al-Shariya.

Subsequent strikes targeted emergency responders, he told the AP.

In September, the Houthis made a rapid advance, capturing much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and strategic islands in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

They have also encircled Taiz, a strategic gateway to southern Yemen.

Meanwhile, they have intensified attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting oil and military infrastructure, as well as shipping in the Red Sea.