ع
The Saudi-led coalition’s joint forces command called on civilians to leave the Yemen Petroleum Company’s Al-Sabaha Central Station in Sanaa for their own safety ahead of a targeted military operation. Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki issued the warning on the social media platform X complete with a map outlining the facility on the outskirts of the Yemeni capital. The directive followed an earlier indication from Al-Maliki that an evacuation notice for a Sanaa site would be released shortly in preparation for the action.
This move comes amid renewed escalation between the Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-aligned Houthis who have launched missile and drone strikes on Saudi airports and energy sites over the past week. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned that any attack on Sanaa would draw a harsh and painful response aimed at the Saudi capital of Riyadh. The group separately urged workers and residents near Saudi Aramco facilities to evacuate describing those locations as legitimate targets.[[1]](https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/saudi-led-coalition-orders-evacuation-yemen-oil-facility-sanaa-ahead-operation-2026-10-13/)
The current tensions build on Houthi territorial gains along Yemen’s Red Sea coast in September 2026 that triggered a Saudi-backed counteroffensive by Yemeni government forces under Operation Dawn of Yemen launched in early October. Coalition air operations supported the push with strikes that destroyed weapons depots storage sites and naval mines according to statements from the alliance. The Bab al-Mandab Strait area has been a focal point in the fighting given its strategic importance for global shipping.[[2]](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/05/world/middleeast/saudi-arabia-yemen-houthis-bab-al-mandab-strait.html)
United Nations agencies have recorded more than 200,000 people displaced by the latest round of fighting since early September with the International Organization for Migration reporting a surge from 76,000 displacements in mid-September. Many of those affected have fled multiple times and now face acute shortages of food shelter and medical care across ten governorates with Taiz among the hardest hit. The agency has warned that needs are outpacing available resources as the humanitarian situation deteriorates further.[[3]](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/more-than-200000-people-displaced-since-fighting-yemen-began-says-un-agency-2026-10-07/)
In a related development on October 13 the coalition announced that its air defenses intercepted and destroyed three drones north of Riyadh which it linked to ongoing Houthi activity. Al-Maliki shared the update via social media noting it as part of defensive measures against repeated incursions. Such interceptions have become more frequent as the cross-border dimension of the conflict expands.
The Yemen war which drew in the Saudi-led coalition in 2015 to back the recognized government against the Houthis has seen periods of reduced direct confrontation since a 2022 truce yet the latest flare-up signals a return to broader hostilities. Houthi advances had placed them in control of much of northern Yemen including Sanaa before the recent counteroffensive altered dynamics on the ground. Officials from both sides have signaled no immediate path to de-escalation as operations continue.
