Date: July 24, 2026
By Kimberly Wilson
“We carried out a proportionate military response operation against legitimate military targets belonging to the terrorist Houthi militia in Hodeidah governorate,” coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Malki said on X, adding that the operation had ended.
The strikes came after the Iran-backed Houthis threatened to target Saudi vessels that did not comply with their maritime blockade and claimed attacks this week on two Saudi ships. Saudi Arabia confirmed one of the attacks.
A Yemeni security source told AFP that a naval base in Hodeidah and a military camp on Kamaran Island were among the targets.
Yemen’s Houthi-run foreign ministry said on Friday that the strikes marked the start of a phase of “escalation for escalation.”
“Residents reported hearing explosions, including near the port.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television said two people were injured — a worker in Hodeidah city and a woman on Kamaran Island.
In a statement, Al-Malki said on Saturday that Hodeidah port had not been targeted and that all Yemeni ports, including Hodeidah, Ras Issa and Salif, remained open to maritime navigation and were receiving commercial ships.
He also said no airport had been targeted in order to keep airports open to air traffic, but accused the Houthis of refusing to allow flight operations at Sanaa International Airport.
The Saudi coalition said it would continue taking necessary measures to protect its ships and Saudi Arabia’s interests, and would respond “uncompromisingly” if the Houthis continued what it described as hostile actions.
The escalation marked the first reported exchange of fire between coalition forces and the Houthis in years, threatening a fragile truce that has largely held since 2022 despite formally expiring.
On Friday, Saudi state media cited a transport authority official as saying the Saudi-owned vessel NCC MASA had been targeted while sailing in the Red Sea, causing minor damage to its hull. The ship resumed its journey, SPA reported.
The latest flare-up comes as disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has increased the importance of the Red Sea route for Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter.
In April and May, all of Saudi Arabia’s seaborne crude exports departed from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, according to Kpler data. The port accounted for 92 percent of seaborne crude exports in June and 78 percent so far in July.
The Houthis have been fighting Yemen’s internationally recognized government since 2014 in a conflict that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.
Saudi Arabia’s envoy to Yemen, Ambassador Mohamed AlJabir, said the Kingdom continues to seek and support all efforts aimed at achieving de-escalation and “a comprehensive political solution that would put an end to the suffering of the Yemeni people.”
But the Houthi militia insists on pursuing a path of escalation and violence “to serve foreign agendas,” he said, in an apparent reference to Iran.
“This militia has turned Yemen into a bargaining chip in the hands of external parties, to be used at will to serve their interests at the expense of Yemen’s security and stability,” AlJabir said in a series of posts on X.
He further noted that while Saudi Arabia supports the entry of ships into the ports of Hodeidah to meet the needs of the Yemeni people, “the Houthi militia continues to carry out its cowardly attacks on civilian commercial ships in the Red Sea, threatening the freedom of international navigation and the region’s security.”