Saudi Arabia bombs Yemen's Hodeidah port, opening a new front in the Red Sea

The Saudi-led military coalition said on Friday, 24 July 2026, that it had bombed Houthi military positions in the port city of Hodeidah on Yemen's Red Sea coast. The coalition said the targets it selected were linked to the group's attacks on commercial vessels.

The Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah channel reported that the strikes hit facilities of the state telecommunications corporation in Hodeidah city. Reuters, citing witnesses, reported explosions heard at Hodeidah's port, although the Saudi-led coalition denied targeting the port itself. Yemen's civil war had been paused under a ceasefire since 2022, and these strikes are the first broad direct confrontation between Riyadh and Sanaa since then.

The bombing of Hodeidah followed Houthi attacks on Saudi-linked ships in the Red Sea, and drew a response the next day when the group fired missiles at Aramco facilities in Jizan and Yanbu. The Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb are the alternative route for Saudi oil exports now that traffic through the Strait of Hormuz has locked up, so the conflict spreading to this corridor raises both oil supply risk and shipping costs.