SANAA — The death toll from Saturday's airstrikes on homes in the village of al-Shariya, east of Yemen's capital Sanaa, has risen to 44, including 21 children and 10 women, the Houthi-run Health Ministry said on Monday, November 9. Ministry spokesman Anees al-Asbahi said 40 other people were wounded — among them eight children and nine women — bringing the reported casualty total to 84, the Associated Press reported. The figures are the Houthi authorities' own count and have not been independently verified.
Source: Associated Press via The Daily Brief News, Nov 9 2026
The strikes hit residential buildings on Saturday, November 7, in the al-Shariya area of Bani Hushaysh district, east of Sanaa. Rescue teams were still searching the rubble of damaged buildings on Monday for people feared missing, the ministry said through the Houthis' Al-Masirah television channel, which means the toll could rise further.
Source: Associated Press via WengGlobal, Nov 9 2026
Blame claimed, responsibility not confirmed
The Houthis blame Saudi Arabia for the strikes and describe the attack as a massacre. Saudi Arabia has not publicly confirmed carrying out the strikes: Reuters reported on Saturday that Saudi Arabia's Centre for International Communication said it was investigating the reports, and Reuters noted it could not independently verify the initial casualty figures. The Associated Press likewise reported that the toll has not been independently verified by international news organisations. No statement from the Saudi-led coalition or the Yemeni government on the al-Shariya strikes had been reported by Monday.
Source: Associated Press via WengGlobal, Nov 9 2026
Awaaz Punjab first reported the al-Shariya strikes on Saturday, when the Houthi-run Saba news agency put the toll at 25, and followed it on Sunday as the reported toll rose to 33 with Saudi Arabia saying it was investigating. Monday's figure of 44 is the third and highest count issued by the Houthi health authorities for the same attack. Read the earlier report: al-Shariya toll rises to 33, Saudi investigating
The same weekend: Marib fighting and claims against Saudi targets
The al-Shariya strikes came during one of the heaviest weekends of Yemen's renewed war. Yemen's internationally recognised government forces said on Saturday they had repelled Houthi assaults in Marib province after hours of fighting backed by warplanes and drones, and were pushing into Houthi-held parts of al-Jawf province in the third day of fighting under the 'Dawn of Yemen' operation. Government spokesman Colonel Majed al-Nazili claimed 875 attacks on Houthi positions on Saturday, about 130 Houthi fighters 'neutralised' and 50 vehicles and missile launchers destroyed or disabled — claims Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify.
Source: Al Jazeera, Nov 7 2026
The Houthis separately claimed six attacks on Saudi targets with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones — including Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, an oil site at Khurais, a pumping station at Dawadmi and a National Guard camp in Najran — without saying when they were carried out. Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Malki said early on Saturday that coalition forces had shot down a Houthi ballistic missile over the Riyadh region. On Sunday, an attack attributed to the Houthis damaged an Aramco tower in Riyadh's financial district, in a strike authenticated in images checked by BBC Verify.
Source: Al Jazeera, Nov 7 2026
What is solid
- Airstrikes hit homes in al-Shariya, Bani Hushaysh district, east of Sanaa, on Saturday, November 7 — reported by AP, Reuters and Al Jazeera
- The Houthi-run Health Ministry raised its toll on Monday to 44 killed (21 children, 10 women) and 40 wounded, spokesman Anees al-Asbahi said via Al-Masirah — AP
- Rescue teams were still searching rubble on Monday, the ministry said
- Saudi Arabia's Centre for International Communication said on Saturday it was investigating the reports — Reuters
What is only claimed
- Who carried out the al-Shariya strikes: the Houthis blame Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia has not confirmed responsibility and says it is investigating
- Every casualty figure for al-Shariya (25, then 33, now 44) comes from Houthi-run authorities and agencies; AP and Reuters both say the figures could not be independently verified
- Battlefield claims from both sides in Marib and al-Jawf, and the Houthis' claimed attacks inside Saudi Arabia, are unverified
A war that restarted in July
Yemen's long war reignited in July 2026, when the UN-brokered truce that had largely paused fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition since 2022 collapsed. Since then the two sides have traded strikes across Yemen and into Saudi Arabia, hitting airports, oil facilities and — as at al-Shariya — residential areas. One report on Monday, citing United Nations estimates, put the toll since fighting resumed at more than 1,600 people killed and over 300,000 displaced; the World Health Organization had earlier recorded 838 deaths and 2,998 injuries between August 6 and September 18 alone. For the lakhs of Indian and Punjabi workers across the Gulf, each new round of Houthi attacks on Saudi cities and energy sites is also a direct safety concern, and the weekend's Riyadh strike is being watched closely in workers' home districts.
Source: FreelaNews / News247 Nigeria summaries of AP and UN figures, Nov 9 2026
What happens next
Two things will decide how this story moves: whether Saudi Arabia's announced investigation produces a public finding on the al-Shariya strikes, and whether rescuers find more people under the rubble in Bani Hushaysh, which would push the Houthi authorities' toll higher still. Until an independent body can reach the village, the numbers will remain what they are — one side's official count, reported with that label, in a war where both governments' claims have repeatedly outrun what outsiders can check.