The Saudi-led coalition intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile targeting southern Saudi Arabia on Monday, while separately destroying a drone launched the previous evening. Saudi Civil Defence issued and lifted alerts for Abha, Khamis Mushait, Taif, and Najran — then warned residents against filming or sharing information about the attacks. The information clampdown is routine but worth noting: the coalition controls the narrative as tightly as it controls airspace. On the ground, Yemeni government forces claim 1,272 targeting operations against Houthi positions in a 24-hour period across al-Jawf, Marib, and al-Bayda, killing roughly 500 fighters and destroying or disabling nearly 170 vehicles and heavy weapons. Al Jazeera could not independently verify these figures. The campaign, dubbed Operation Dawn of Yemen, launched last month to reclaim territory the Houthis seized after full-scale fighting reignited in September. Houthi-affiliated media reported seven people wounded in Saudi-led coalition strikes on Hodeidah — four at Ras Isa port dock and three at an oil company site in Bajil district. The coalition offered no comment. Hodeidah sits on the Red Sea coast, a chokepoint for Yemen's already decimated supply chains, and any damage to port infrastructure compounds an existing humanitarian catastrophe. The siege of Taiz is the story's sharpest edge. Yemen's third-largest city, home to roughly one million people, has been under Houthi blockade since early October. Governor Nabil Shamsan reports 120 health centres have stopped operating and another 66 are near shutdown. At least 23 supply trucks were damaged or overturned in the past two weeks attempting alternative routes. Food, fuel, and medical supplies are being weaponized. The broader pattern is a war that destroys without building. The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014; a decade later, neither side has achieved anything resembling a political settlement. September's Houthi gains on the Red Sea coast triggered the current government offensive, but territorial seesaws have been the war's defining feature for years. Each cycle displaces more civilians — the UN reports 290,000 newly displaced — while infrastructure degrades further. Saudi Arabia absorbs missile and drone attacks on its southern territory but maintains escalation dominance through airpower. The Houthis, backed by Iran, absorb airstrikes but maintain ground control through siege tactics and territorial resilience. The civilian population of Yemen bears the costs of both strategies simultaneously, with no exit visible. The war economy is now self-sustaining: arms flows, blockade rents, and humanitarian aid channels all create stakeholders with incentives to continue. Without an external forcing function — a credible peace process, a shift in Iranian or Saudi calculations, or total military exhaustion — the 20-year trajectory is continued fragmentation, population displacement, and institutional collapse across Yemen's remaining governance structures.
