Truce offer amid the rubble
RIYADH, October 11, 2026 — Yemen’s Houthi movement said on Saturday it was ready for reciprocal measures with Saudi Arabia to keep airports, seaports and other facilities with humanitarian functions out of their escalating military confrontation, a rare de-escalation signal issued just hours after the deadliest attack yet on Saudi soil.
The offer, carried in a Houthi statement, came as Saudi Arabia answered Saturday’s missile strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport — which killed 12 people and injured 309 — with a punishing new wave of air and missile strikes deep inside Houthi-held territory.
Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that Saturday’s Saudi strikes targeted Sanaa International Airport in the rebel-held capital, positions near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait and several northern provinces, marking one of the heaviest Saudi bombardments in recent days.
Airstrikes widen across Yemen
Yemen’s internationally recognised government forces, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, said the day’s operations had “neutralized” more than 1,150 Houthi fighters and destroyed or damaged over 180 military and logistical vehicles in more than 1,900 strikes across multiple fronts in the past 24 hours. The figures could not be independently verified.
Government military sources told Xinhua that the offensive was part of a broader push to reclaim territory the Houthis have held since the collapse of the 2022 ceasefire earlier this year, when the rebels resumed attacks, accusing Saudi Arabia of firing on Sanaa airport as an Iranian plane attempted to land.
Fighting flares around Taiz
On the ground, fierce clashes were underway south of the southwestern city of Taiz, where Houthi advances have put increasing pressure on government forces defending the city, the sources said, adding that the fighting had disrupted key roads connecting Taiz with government-held areas in the south.
The rebel gains around Taiz underscore how the conflict has widened beyond the airport wars that began this week, with fighting now stretching from the Red Sea coast at Bab al-Mandab to the Yemeni interior.
Trump weighs US action
US President Donald Trump said on Saturday he would soon decide whether to join Saudi strikes against the Iran-backed Houthis after the Riyadh airport attack, which killed an American citizen among its 12 victims.
“We may. We’re going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision,” Trump told reporters at the White House, adding: “We move very quickly.”
Meanwhile, the Houthis’ military spokesperson warned airlines, workers and travellers to avoid Saudi airports and airspace, calling them “a theatre of operations” — though the group said airports in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina were exempt.
