SANA’A -- Yemeni armed forces said Tuesday they carried out six qualitative military operations deep inside Saudi territory using drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, while ground confrontations continued across Ta’izz, Lahj and Shabwa, with Sanaa's health ministry reporting 536 killed and wounded in Saudi airstrikes since the escalation began on September 3.

The armed forces said the operations were conducted in response to sustained Saudi aggression against Yemen. In the first operation, Aramco's facility in Yanbu was targeted in two stages. A second operation struck the Shaybah oil field with drones and missiles, triggering fires in the targeted areas.

A third operation targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh in three stages. A fourth struck Abha International Airport, key Saudi radar installations on the Al-Husn and Al-Rahmah mountains, and Khamis Mushait air base.

The armed forces said the operations disrupted air traffic at the airports and caused damage to the Saudi air base. A fifth operation targeted a Saudi naval special forces camp, leaving Saudi forces killed and wounded. A sixth destroyed a Saudi radar in the Bir Askar area.

In Ta’izz, confrontations continued across multiple axes. The armed forces said they targeted six gatherings of Saudi-backed mercenary forces in the Al-Suqya and Ras al-Ara areas with six ballistic missiles, which they said struck their targets accurately, inflicting casualties and destroying military equipment.

The armed forces rejected claims by the Saudi-backed fugitive regime and its mercenaries of any territorial gains, saying their forces maintain their positions.

In Lahj, fighting persisted in the Al-Suqya and Al-Alam areas near Bab al-Mandab. The armed forces said the Saudi-backed mercenaries had failed to achieve any advance despite their claims.

The armed forces also announced a special operation against the Al-Alam camp in Shabwa province, east of the country, targeting a gathering of forces loyal to the Saudi enemy. Saudi officers manage the camp, according to the armed forces, and the operation killed and wounded dozens, including Saudi officers.

Yemeni resistance media published footage of an operation targeting a gathering of Saudi forces east of Al-Jawf province, specifically east of the Al-Yatimah area, where military equipment was struck and a number of forces were killed.

Sana’a authorities renewed warnings to individuals who have joined Saudi camps, urging them to leave to preserve their lives. The armed forces warned that these individuals are being trapped and used in battles in place of Saudi military personnel.

A military source told the Saba news agency that citizens near Saudi forces and their gatherings, whether inside Yemen or in Saudi territory, should avoid approaching these positions.

The armed forces also called on Saudi citizens to distance themselves from the areas for their own safety, and repeated warnings to international airlines about using Saudi airspace, with the exception of the airspace over Mecca and Medina.

The warnings extended to investors and oil facilities. A military source urged investors to refrain from any business partnership with the Saudi regime, saying Riyadh is an unsafe city and that Saudi oil facilities are within range of Yemeni missiles.

Brigadier General Yahya Saree, spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces, said Saudi attacks on residential areas and civilians in the past 48 hours exceeded 200 airstrikes.

The attacks were not limited to airstrikes, with missile strikes also targeting Sana’a and a number of Yemeni provinces, killing and wounding dozens, most of them women and children.

Saree said the total number of Saudi airstrikes and missile attacks against Yemen since the escalation began has exceeded 2,700.

The health ministry in Sana’a said the total number of killed and wounded since the latest escalation began reached more than 536, with women and children constituting the largest proportion.

Ta’izz accounted for 32.3 percent of casualties, followed by Sa’ada at 22.2 percent and Al-Jawf at 16 percent, according to the ministry.

Yemen's foreign ministry welcomed any effort to end the Saudi blockade and aggression against the Yemeni people, affirming its support for efforts aimed at halting the escalation and ending the war.

U.S. special envoy Tom Barrack conceded that a "ground kinetic" battle in Yemen by the U.S. "seems fruitless" during a talk at the Global Security Forum in Qatar on Tuesday.

"I think the president's been clear that he supports Saudi Arabia and the backing that they need logistically he will supply. But America getting involved in a ground kinetic battle somewhere else seems fruitless."

Barrack is Washington's ambassador to Turkiye and special presidential envoy for Syria and Iraq. He admitted that military force has failed in Yemen and that Riyadh is in a "very difficult position."

"These kinetic reactions have never worked. It doesn't work. It's probably not likely that it's going to work," he said.

Barrack questioned whether U.S. meddling across West Asia has helped or harmed the region.

He pressed for talks between Riyadh, Sana’a, and regional mediators, urging regional capitals to build their own alliances instead of leaning on Washington.

He went further, admitting that the U.S. has had a hand in 23 regime changes across the region, none of which achieved their aims.

He declined to say whether the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran launched on 28 February was a mistake, while conceding that it had unleashed unintended consequences across the region.

Barrack's remarks follow Washington's failed bid to subdue Yemen by military force, with more than 1,000 U.S. airstrikes between March 2024 and April 2025 unable to halt Yemeni naval operations waged in support of Gaza, forcing the U.S. into an Omani-brokered ceasefire with Sana’a in May 2025.

The campaign cost Washington $1 billion in its first three weeks alone, as Yemeni forces downed 17 MQ-9 Reaper drones and the U.S. lost two F-18 fighter jets.

Ansarallah leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi said in November 2024 that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier had retreated hundreds of miles after coming under Yemeni fire, while then U.S. Under Secretary of Defense Bill LaPlante admitted he was "just shocked" by what Yemen's missiles could do.

Europe fared no better, with Rear Admiral Vasileios Gryparis, commander of the EU's Operation Aspides, telling Bloomberg in June 2024 that his Red Sea fleet needed to more than double in size and that U.S.–UK strikes on Yemen were "not contributing to the solution," after France withdrew one of his frigates citing the threat level.

Muhammad al-Bukhaiti, a senior member of Yemen's Ansarullah movement, said all options, including a ground attack on Saudi Arabia, are on the table and completely open.

He stated that advances in the missile and drone capabilities of Yemen's armed forces have enabled them to target Saudi maritime assets in addition to targets deep inside Saudi territory.

Al-Bukhaiti said Yemen currently possesses the strategic capability to block all Saudi ports and airports and impose a siege against them.

He stressed that the simplest way for Riyadh to exit its current predicament is to accept Yemen's just and realistic demands for a complete halt to the war and the lifting of the siege.