Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had carried out the attack on Saturday afternoon, with flames and black smoke seen rising from the facility. The Houthis said the strike was retaliation for Saudi attacks on Yemen. Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah TV reported that Saudi aircraft had struck Sanaa with 26 raids earlier, after reporting "Saudi aggression" against the capital. Two correspondents in Sanaa reported hearing loud explosions and seeing warplanes firing missiles. Al-Masirah also reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in Saada, a Houthi stronghold in north-western Yemen.
The renewed conflict in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis. The World Food Programme warned on Friday that three-quarters of the population could not meet basic food needs. After several years of calm, the civil war restarted in July when Iran sent a plane to Sanaa carrying a Houthi delegation without seeking Saudi authorisation. Riyadh retaliated with strikes on Sanaa airport, and the Houthis attacked Saudi territory for the first time since 2022. The group then launched a lightning offensive capturing all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, and announced a naval blockade on Saudi shipping.
Recent fighting has centred on Taiz, where dozens of combatants were killed on Friday. The Houthis reported 55 of their fighters killed, while government sources said 26 of their troops had died.