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The coalition says Houthi attacks on four southern Saudi cities wounded 73 civilians and the Energy Ministry reports fires at several sites
By Staff Writer | 8 September 2026
The spokesman for the coalition supporting Yemen's government said on 8 September that attacks on civilian and economic sites in Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran had injured 73 civilians, including women and children. The Saudi Energy Ministry said energy facilities in the south of the kingdom were hit on Tuesday morning, causing fires and a temporary halt to some operations.
The Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen said on Tuesday 8 September 2026 that Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia had wounded 73 civilians. Its spokesman, Major General Turki Al Malki, said the latest of the attacks had targeted civilian and economic sites in four cities in the south of the kingdom, Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran. The coalition's statement did not say on which days the attacks took place.
Separately, the Saudi Energy Ministry said that a number of energy sector facilities and infrastructure in the southern region of the kingdom were targeted on Tuesday morning. The ministry said the attacks caused injuries of varying severity among a number of citizens and started fires at a number of sites, leading to the temporary suspension of some operational activities. It said the relevant authorities had begun dealing with the facilities and taking the necessary measures.
The attacks by the terrorist Houthi militia, the latest of which targeted civilian and economic sites in the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, resulted in the injury of 73 civilians, including women and children. This constitutes a flagrant violation and a direct threat to the kingdom's sovereignty, and to the security and safety of its citizens and residents on its territory.
Major General Turki Al Malki, spokesman for the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen
What the coalition said it would do
Major General Al Malki described the attacks as a dangerous escalation and said they showed the Houthis' continued deliberate targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure, which he said violated international humanitarian law. He said the coalition's joint forces would take all necessary operational measures to deter the group, and that the necessary measures and procedures would be taken to respond to the sources of the threat and neutralise the danger.
Saudi Arabia's foreign affairs authorities issued their own statement on the attacks and on what they called the continued targeting of commercial vessels in the Red Sea, calling on the international community to bear its responsibilities and implement the relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions.
The coalition's figure follows an attack it reported on 6 August, in which it said 11 civilians were injured in Najran province: seven Saudi nationals, including a woman and a four-year-old child, one Yemeni, two Egyptians and one Pakistani. The child suffered second-degree burns.
What has not been stated
Neither the coalition nor the Energy Ministry named the facilities that were hit, the weapons used, or the extent of the damage. The Houthi movement had not commented on the coalition's casualty figure when the reports were published. The Houthis have claimed attacks on Saudi military and infrastructure targets in recent weeks, including a reported attack on Najran airport; those claims have not been matched to the coalition's figure and are not treated here as confirmed.
The fighting inside Yemen
The attacks come amid renewed fighting on Yemen's western coast. Yemen's state news agency reported that at least four civilians were killed and nine injured on Saturday in a Houthi ballistic missile attack on the Haijat Al Abd highway linking Taiz with the south of the country, and that pro-government forces had launched a counter-attack in the Al Garrahi district of southern Hodeidah. The International Organisation for Migration, government authorities and humanitarian partners put the number of people displaced in Taiz and Hodeidah since the escalation began on Thursday at about 18,500, a figure the agency said was still rising.
The agency said on Monday that clashes and telecommunications disruption were hampering efforts to reach and register newly displaced families, and that emergency stocks of food, shelter and household items were severely depleted. "Families are arriving with nothing: no shelter, no food, no way to know if it's safe to go back," said Abdusattor Esoev, its chief of mission in Yemen. The agency said 663 households had so far received essential household items and called for safe passage for civilians and unimpeded humanitarian access.
Saudi Arabia backs Yemen's internationally recognised government. The Houthis control the capital, Sanaa, and large parts of the country. A truce that took effect in 2022 reduced the fighting between the sides, and the reports carrying Tuesday's statements describe tensions as having risen sharply in recent weeks. This desk reported the Yemeni government's own account of the fighting near Bab al-Mandab on 7 September.