Saudi airstrike on Yemen's Bani Hashish kills 33, Houthi-run ministry says

The death toll from a Saudi airstrike in Yemen has risen to 33, with 39 more people wounded. The Houthi-affiliated Yemeni Health Ministry announced the updated figures and called the strike an 'atrocity' — one of the harshest words it has used for an attack on civilian ground.

The strike hit the al-Shariyah area of the Bani Hashish district. Among the dead, the ministry says, are 13 children and 8 women. The wounded are receiving medical treatment, though the ministry did not detail the condition of the survivors.

The bombing is the latest beat in a fast-escalating exchange. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi forces claimed responsibility for six attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and military infrastructure, according to Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree. He said in a post on X that the targets included the Ras Tanura oil refinery, an Aramco facility in Abqaiq, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.

The ripples are spreading across the water too. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said it received a report of an incident involving a bulk carrier 'and military forces' in the Gulf of Oman, 18 nautical miles off the coast of the United Arab Emirates. 'Status of crew, damage assessment, and environmental impact are unknown at [the] time of report,' UKMTO said. Tensions remain high across the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman as the conflict between the United States and Iran grinds on.

There's diplomatic noise to match. Syria's SANA News Agency, citing diplomatic sources, rejected an AFP report that Damascus would send 'thousands' of troops to Yemen and Saudi Arabia to fight the Houthis. The source said current military agreements with Saudi Arabia are limited to training, expertise exchange and military consultations, and called the AFP report baseless.

Washington and its Gulf partners have been pushing for dialogue between Riyadh and Tehran to cool the region, but the strikes and counter-strikes keep outpacing the diplomacy. For now, the fight is measured in mounting casualties in Yemen and claimed hits on Saudi energy and aviation sites.