This story updates Awaaz Punjab's November 7 report, in which the Houthi-run health ministry put the toll from Saturday's airstrikes on the village of al-Shariya near Sanaa at at least 25 killed and 30 wounded, and Riyadh had not replied. The ministry has since raised the toll to 33 killed and 39 wounded, and Saudi Arabia's Center for International Communication has said it is investigating the report. Read the earlier report: 25 killed near Sanaa, no reply from Riyadh
At least 33 people have been killed and 39 wounded in airstrikes on the village of al-Shariya, near Yemen's capital Sanaa, the Houthi-run health ministry said on Sunday, November 8 — up from the at least 25 killed it reported a day earlier — in one of the deadliest attacks since fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis resumed in July. Houthi-run health ministry spokesman Anees Alasbahi accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out Saturday's strikes on the village, in the Bani Hushaysh district east of the Houthi-controlled capital. Reuters could not independently verify the account, and Saudi Arabia has not confirmed carrying out the strikes.
The toll has climbed in stages. The Houthi-run Saba news agency first reported at least 27 people killed and 36 wounded, and the figures were later revised upward to 33 killed and 39 injured, the Terror Monitor summary of the Houthi announcements said. Alasbahi, in a post on X early on Sunday, described the 33 toll as near-final and said 13 children were among the dead; the health ministry said most of those killed were women and children. Saba said warplanes destroyed about six houses in the village, a farming community about 15 kilometres northeast of Sanaa.
Rescuers under the rubble — and, the Houthis allege, under fire again
Alasbahi said civilians were still buried under the rubble of houses hit in the strikes and that subsequent strikes targeted emergency workers as they tried to pull survivors out of the wreckage — an allegation Reuters reported but could not verify. Abdul-Aziz al-Dailami, director of Sehatuna Hospital in Sanaa, said many victims remained trapped under the rubble, including first responders. Footage broadcast by the Houthi-run al-Masirah television showed rescuers pulling bodies from collapsed buildings and staff carrying injured children into a local hospital.
Riyadh says it is investigating; responsibility not confirmed
Saudi Arabia's Center for International Communication said it was investigating the report, Reuters reported — the first Saudi response since the strikes, after a day in which there had been no comment from Riyadh. The Saudi-led coalition has not publicly confirmed responsibility for the reported attack, and neither the full casualty toll nor the circumstances of the strikes has been independently confirmed. The Houthis said the village strike came in the same 24-hour window in which, their military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed, coalition forces carried out 105 airstrikes and missile attacks across multiple provinces — a claim that has not been independently verified.
One of the deadliest days since the truce collapsed
The renewed Saudi-Houthi fighting has shattered the 2022 UN-brokered truce that had largely halted attacks between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthis, who control Sanaa. The United Nations says more than 1,600 people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced since the fighting intensified in July, according to BBC reporting of UN figures. In the same escalation cycle, Saree has confirmed six Houthi operations using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones against targets inside Saudi Arabia, including King Khalid airport and Aramco facilities in Riyadh, a Khurais facility in the Eastern Province and a pumping station at Dawadmi — operations Awaaz Punjab reported on November 7.
The Houthi claims of six missile and drone operations against Saudi targets, including Riyadh's airport and Aramco facilities, were reported by Awaaz Punjab a day earlier. Read the earlier report: Houthis claim six operations against Saudi targets
What is solid
- Saturday's airstrikes hit homes in al-Shariya village, Bani Hushaysh district, near Sanaa — Houthi-run media, Reuters and AP reporting.
- The Houthi-run health ministry has raised its reported toll in stages to 33 killed and 39 wounded, with spokesman Anees Alasbahi saying 13 children are among the dead.
- Saudi Arabia's Center for International Communication says it is investigating the report — Reuters; Riyadh has not confirmed responsibility.
What is only claimed
- Who carried out the strikes: the Houthi-run health ministry accuses Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia has not confirmed it, and Reuters could not independently verify the Houthi account.
- The allegation that follow-up strikes targeted emergency workers, and the Houthi claim of 105 coalition strikes in the same period, rest on Houthi statements and have not been independently verified.
What happens next
Rescue work in al-Shariya is continuing with people still reported under the rubble, so the Houthi-reported toll may rise again. What Riyadh's investigation concludes — and whether the coalition confirms or denies the strike — will shape the next round of a war that has already drawn in Saudi cities, Red Sea shipping and, this weekend, an Aramco building in Riyadh itself. Awaaz Punjab will update this story as verified figures and any Saudi statement arrive.