Yahya Saree, spokesman for Yemen’s armed forces, announced on Wednesday that Yemeni air defenses had confronted several Saudi F-15 fighter jets, preventing them from entering Sana’a’s airspace and forcing them to withdraw.
The confrontation comes amid a renewed escalation of Saudi attacks following the collapse of the 2022 ceasefire and the intensification of hostilities in the summer of 2026.
Saree said Saudi forces had carried out 109 air and missile attacks against Yemen within 24 hours, targeting civilian areas in Sana’a and the provinces of Al-Jawf, Taiz, Amran, Sa'ada, Marib and Lahj.
He said F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from Khamis Mushait and Taif air bases had participated in the attacks, while missile strikes had been launched from Najran and Jizan.
The spokesman put the total number of Saudi air and missile attacks since the beginning of the latest escalation at 4,672, reporting civilian casualties, including women and children.
Saudi Arabia has also maintained naval and air restrictions that have severely affected Yemen’s access to essential goods, fuel and humanitarian assistance.
Yemen warns of escalating retaliation
Meanwhile, Abdullah Ali Sabri, Yemen’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, warned that Saudi Arabia was increasingly paying the price for its military intervention and miscalculations regarding Yemen’s military capabilities.
Speaking to Al-Masirah, Sabri said Yemeni operations had exposed the vulnerability of the kingdom’s reliance on US and Western protection, extending pressure beyond oil facilities and strategic infrastructure to financial and investment centers.
He identified attacks on Riyadh’s financial center and an Aramco tower as significant developments, arguing that the operations were undermining the economic foundations of Saudi Arabia and its Vision 2030 project.
Sabri said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had promoted Vision 2030 as a strategy to diversify the economy, reduce dependence on oil and attract international investment. However, he argued that continued Yemeni operations against oil facilities, maritime infrastructure and financial centers were threatening the security and investment environment required to sustain the project.
He added that Riyadh had underestimated Yemen’s military capabilities, believing that US and Western support and advanced defense systems would shield its strategic assets from retaliation.
According to Sabri, the consequences now extend beyond economic losses to the kingdom’s political standing, international credibility and investment prospects.
He said Saudi Arabia faced three options: end its aggression and blockade, withdraw its forces and allied fighters from Yemen, and pay compensation to the Yemeni people; deepen its alignment with the Israeli regime through formal normalization; or face the prospect of internal instability resulting from accumulated military, political and economic failures.
Sabri warned that continued aggression and the blockade would bring increasingly heavy losses for Riyadh, stressing that Yemeni operations would intensify if Saudi Arabia failed to meet its demands.
Saudi attacks continue against border communities
Meanwhile, Yemeni media reported that Saudi artillery had shelled several areas in the border district of Shada in Saada province, as well as residential villages in the Al-Thabet area of Qatabir district.
Saudi fighter jets also targeted the districts of Al-Maqatirah and Al-Shamaytin in Taiz and Lahj provinces early Wednesday, extending the latest attacks against Yemeni territory.