ALBAWABA- Saudi Arabia accused Yemen’s Houthi movement of carrying out a drone attack on a power distribution station in Medina on September 29, as fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces intensified across Taiz and other front lines.
Major General Turki Al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen, said the attack took place at 5:11 a.m. at the Taiba electricity distribution station in Medina. He said investigations and evidence recovered from the drone established Houthi involvement in planning and carrying out the attack.
According to Al-Maliki, the strike put one transformer out of service but did not disrupt the wider electricity grid. He said the station supplies electricity to facilities serving the Prophet’s Mosque, and accused the Houthis of deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure and seeking to provoke Muslims by threatening sites in Mecca and Medina.
Al-Maliki said the coalition would continue taking measures to deter Houthi attacks and protect Mecca, Medina and their visitors. The Houthis have not been cited in the available reports as confirming responsibility for the Medina attack.
The incident comes amid a sharp escalation in the Yemen war after years of relative calm following the UN-brokered truce of 2022. Since July and particularly since early September, the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces have resumed major fighting, with Houthi forces making advances along Yemen’s western coast and in Taiz.
The renewed conflict has also spilled into Saudi territory, with Riyadh reporting repeated Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi infrastructure and cities. The escalation has coincided with a major Houthi offensive toward the Red Sea coast and the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
The group captured Mokha earlier in September, according to Yemeni military sources cited by international media, while government-aligned forces have launched counterattacks in Taiz and elsewhere. More than 146,000 people have reportedly been displaced since fighting intensified in July.
On the ground in Yemen, government forces said they repelled dozens of Houthi attacks around Taiz after approximately 12 hours of fighting. A military source said government forces thwarted the attacks without allowing the Houthis to make significant advances and remained in their positions.
Local reports said the Houthis launched coordinated attacks from early morning using fighters and armed personnel reportedly brought from Sanaa, Dhamar, Amran, Hodeidah, Saada and other areas under their control. The reported attacks targeted several populated areas in the countryside of Taiz, including villages in the Shamaitayn and Jabal Habashi districts, as well as positions in Al-Aqrood and residential areas in the Samer district.
Local reports also said a Houthi unit infiltrated the area around Hayjah Al-Abd and blew up a ferry on the main road linking Taiz and Aden before withdrawing toward Hayfan under pursuit. The fighting around Taiz is strategically significant. Houthi forces have been attempting to strengthen their positions around the city and disrupt the main road linking Taiz with Aden, while government-aligned forces have sought to prevent the group from cutting the route and potentially isolating Taiz.
The latest developments mark a widening of the confrontation from Yemen’s front lines to Saudi territory, with the Medina attack adding a particularly sensitive dimension to an escalation that has already involved Saudi infrastructure, ballistic missiles and drones. Saudi, Yemeni government and Houthi forces have all increased military activity in recent weeks, raising fears that the 2022 truce has effectively collapsed.
Dr. Mansour Al-Maswari is Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University-Global Center, Amman. A Yemeni academician with a Ph.D. in English "Comparative Literature" and two MA degrees, one in political science and the other in English, Dr. Al-Maswari possesses more than 17 years of extensive experience in university-level teaching, research, research reviewing, bilingual translation, and copy-writing...
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