ADEN, Yemen — Thursday, 29 October 2026 — Fighting across Yemen surged to a new pitch on Wednesday and Thursday, with a deadly strike on a crowded market in the north, a fresh attack on Aden’s international airport, and rival claims of hundreds of strikes traded by both sides of the war.
Market strike in al-Jawf
Saudi-led airstrikes hit a central market near a fuel station in al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf province, on Wednesday while it was packed with shoppers, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said. At least 13 people were killed and 16 wounded, including three women, according to the ministry’s preliminary toll, cited by the Associated Press. Shops and houses nearby were heavily damaged. Houthi media later put the toll at 14 dead and 15 wounded. The ministry described the attack as a war crime and called for an international investigation. There was no immediate statement from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government or the Saudi-led coalition.
The market strike was not the only civilian toll reported on Wednesday. Two children were wounded when shelling hit homes in al-Qubayta in Lahj governorate, local sources said, and one person was killed in airstrikes on the coastal city of Mokha, west of Taiz.
Aden airport hit again
In the south, Houthi forces struck Aden International Airport on Wednesday after issuing what their military spokesman Yahya Sarea called a “final” warning for people to evacuate the facility. Sarea claimed a Saudi military cargo plane carrying weapons was at the airport, but offered no evidence for the claim, and there was no immediate response from the coalition or the Yemeni government.
Residents told Reuters they heard explosions near the airport before the warning, and Yemeni government forces said the attack caused civilian injuries and material damage. Two transport ministry officials told Reuters that air traffic was halted after the strike, while an aid source said some United Nations staff left the airport shortly before the attack and no UN personnel were hurt. A flight carrying aid workers departed safely for Amman on Wednesday morning, before the incident. Local sources said hundreds of passengers, including patients, had already left the airport following the warnings.
Hundreds of strikes claimed on both sides
The airport attack came amid a sharp escalation across several fronts. Government forces spokesman Majid al-Nuzaili said troops had carried out 749 attacks over the preceding 24 hours against Houthi command centres, fortifications, vehicles and supply lines, claiming 239 fighters neutralised and 117 military vehicles and pieces of equipment destroyed or damaged. Government forces were consolidating gains in the southwestern province of Taiz, he said, while offensive operations continued elsewhere.
Sarea, meanwhile, said Saudi forces had carried out 101 air and missile strikes on the Houthi-held capital Sanaa and eight provinces over the same period, claiming the attacks left dozens dead or wounded, including women and children. Neither side’s operational or casualty figures could be independently verified, with access for independent journalists and monitors in Yemen severely restricted.
A war with no end in sight
Fighting in Yemen reignited in July after an uneasy four-year truce, months into the wider US-Iran conflict that has plunged the region into crisis. The Houthis have repeatedly struck targets deep inside Saudi Arabia in recent days, including an attack on Riyadh’s international airport that was the kingdom’s deadliest in years. Yemen remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, with millions facing famine and displacement, and humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that escalations of this scale severely disrupt aid delivery.
