Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on Riyadh airport, deny losing territory

Yemen's Houthis claimed an attack on Riyadh's main airport and denied losing territory, even as Yemen's government said it had retaken ground near the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the port city of Mocha. Sources on both sides told AFP that fighting killed more than 270 government troops and Houthi fighters in a single day, with the Houthis' health ministry also reporting a Saudi airstrike killed six members of one family, including four children.

Saudi authorities have not confirmed strikes on Riyadh's airport, though tracking data shows repeated airspace closures, and officials did confirm wounded at two other airports near the Yemen border. Pakistan and Turkey pledged troops to Saudi Arabia under a mutual defense pact, a move analysts say will be hard to frame as anything other than taking a side the longer the conflict escalates.

The U.N. says the Houthis' coastal offensive has displaced more than 184,000 people, and the Secretary-General's spokesman voiced deep concern over the sharp escalation while condemning Houthi cross-border attacks.

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