Saudis Join Israel, US and UK in Resuming 2025 Strikes on Yemen

Information on the strikes comes from the Yemen Data Project

2025 marked the deadliest year in awhile for Yemen, with heavy air campaigns from the US and UK, along with high casualties strikes from Israel being joined by Saudi Arabia in December, which hadn’t carried out its own strikes against Yemen since 2022, then started a large campaign at the end of December in the south and east.

The late December Saudi strikes centered on the city of al-Mukalla, and were the start of a move to try to eliminate the STC, the southern separatist movement in Yemen. This continued into January, and is starting to set the stage for a challenging 2026 for Yemen.

2025’s airstrikes led to 1,336 civilian casualties, a massive increase from the 297 caused in 2024. More than half of those casualties were from US strikes, while Israel only carried out about 10% of the strikes but caused around 47% of the civilian casualties.

A person gestures towards smoke rising in the aftermath of a Saudi-led coalition airstrike, which targeted what it described as foreign military support to UAE-backed southern separatists, in Yemen’s southern port of Mukalla, in this screengrab from a handout video obtained by Reuters on December 30, 2025. Aden al-Mustakillah TV/Handout via REUTERS THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. 

Verification lines: Storage tanks, warehouses and trees matched satellite images and corroborating footages. Date verified by official and media reports.