Overview
- The Saudi-led coalition said a drone hit the Taibah electricity distribution station that supplies the Prophet’s Mosque, putting one transformer out of service on Sept. 29 without cutting wider power to Madinah.
- Coalition officials, citing an after-action review and examination of drone wreckage, have publicly attributed the strike to the Houthi movement.
- Houthi sources and their Saba news agency denied responsibility and called the coalition’s claim false, creating a disputed record of attribution.
- Fighting inside Yemen has escalated, especially around Taiz, producing heavy clashes, large new displacement and repeated Houthi drone and missile launches toward southern Saudi cities that Saudi forces say they have intercepted.
- Regional and Western officials report Riyadh is planning a campaign to reverse Houthi coastal gains that would be led by Yemeni ground forces with Saudi air support and limited foreign defensive aid, a move that could affect Red Sea shipping and local civilian safety.