Yemeni forces target Houthis and a Saudi base as US rules out direct role

The United States reiterated its support for Yemen’s internationally recognised government on Wednesday as fighting intensified between the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi forces. US officials also held direct talks with Houthi representatives in Oman last weekend, according to sources cited by Reuters.

Yemeni government forces said that the coalition had struck Houthi positions around Mocha and that government forces had launched drone attacks in Marib. The Houthis claimed to have shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet over Marib.

US offers diplomatic support

Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked regional and Western allies for help, according to two officials who spoke to The Associated Press news agency. The Saudis asked France, Pakistan, Egypt and the United Kingdom to deploy air-defence support to help defend against attacks by the Houthis. One official said Saudi Arabia’s main ally and arms supplier, the US, has seen its own stock of interceptors dwindle over the course of the war with Iran.

US Central Command (CENTCOM) spokesman Tim Hawkins told Al Jazeera that the US is “closely monitoring” the situation between Houthis and the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, adding that the US military has a longstanding “military relationship with our Saudi partners, and you see that manifesting today”.

Even as Washington assists the Saudi campaign, American officials held direct talks with Houthi representatives in Oman last weekend, according to three sources who spoke to the Reuters news agency on condition of anonymity. The meeting took place at the US embassy in Muscat with the assistance of the Omani government, two of the sources said.

At the Muscat meeting, the Houthis told US officials they had no intention of attacking US vessels and were committed to the 2025 ceasefire with the US, according to the sources cited by Reuters.

Meanwhile, the top US diplomat for Yemen, Neil Hop, told Yemen’s Foreign Minister Afrah al-Zouba that the US maintained its “strong support” for Yemen’s internationally recognised government, according to the US embassy in Yemen.

“The United States of America stands in solidarity with the Yemen government and its people against Iran-backed Houthi aggression,” the embassy said, citing Hop in a post on X.

Fighting escalates

The Yemeni government’s army said the Saudi-led coalition targeted Houthi outposts and equipment around the southwestern port city of Mocha. In a separate social media post, the government’s army also said they conducted drone attacks on Houthi forces in northern Marib governorate.

On Wednesday evening, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said that “Saudi warplanes launched 40 air strikes targeting the provinces of Taiz, Marib and Hodeidah over the past 24 hours”. In response, the Houthis targeted the Khamis Mushait airbase and an oil facility in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Yanbu, the group said in a statement.

The Houthis also claimed to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet using a “locally made surface-to-air missile” over the central province of Marib. Al Jazeera’s Yemen correspondent Yousef Mawry said the downing of Saudi fighter jets “could very well mean a change in the balance of power” as “Saudi Arabia depends heavily on its ability to carry out air strikes against Houthi positions in various provinces”.