Sanaa, Sep 19: Yemen’s Houthi group has said that Saudi warplanes launched 26 airstrikes on the southwestern province of Taiz over the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of strikes across Yemen this week to 300 as air operations intensified alongside ongoing ground battles on several fronts.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said in a statement on social media platform X on Friday (local time) that Saudi F-15 fighter jets carried out the 26 strikes on Taiz after taking off from Khamis Mushait Air Base in southwestern Saudi Arabia.

Sarea added that this week’s 300 airstrikes across nine Yemeni provinces involved F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets operating from Saudi air bases of Khamis Mushait and King Fahd, reports Xinhua news agency.

Saudi authorities had no immediate comment.

The reported strikes came as heavy fighting continued Friday around the Kahbub mountain range in the southern province of Lahj, near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait, while clashes persisted across southwestern Taiz and in oil-rich Marib farther northeast.

The latest escalation follows significant Houthi advances along Yemen’s southwestern Red Sea coast earlier this month. Yemen’s conflict erupted in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government.

Meanwhile, explosions were heard in the Saudi capital Riyadh early Saturday. Local residents received air defence alerts via mobile apps.

The Saudi Directorate of Civil Defence later issued a statement on X saying the danger has passed in Riyadh and Al-Kharj and urged residents to continue following its instructions and avoid gathering or filming.

Earlier, it had warned: “An alert has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform for Emergency Cases in Al-Kharj Governorate to warn of a danger.”

Kyiv, Sep 19: Ukraine has received a new 3.3-billion-euro (about 3.78 billion US dollars) tranche from the European Union to finance priority defence needs, Ukrainian Prime Minister Sergii Koretskyi said Friday.

The funds will be used, in particular, to purchase missiles and drones, Koretskyi said on Telegram.

The tranche was disbursed under the Ukraine Support Loan mechanism, which envisages up to 45 billion euros in assistance to Ukraine in 2026, including funding for defence and budgetary support.

The EU finalised the 90-billion-euro support loan for Ukraine in April, aiming to provide budgetary and defence support to the country in 2026 and 2027, reports Xinhua news agency.

Meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated on Friday it had summoned Britain’s charge d’affaires in Russia, Danae Dholakia, over London’s increased arms supplies to Ukraine.

On August 24, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s office announced that the country had authorised defence company MBDA to release classified information on British components of the long-range SCALP missile. The information will help Kyiv assemble these weapons.

Britain’s “sharply confrontational line on the Ukrainian track is clearly subordinated to the task of dragging out and escalating the armed conflict by all means, and only pushes further away the prospect of its political settlement,” said the ministry in a statement.

According to the foreign ministry, Dholakia was informed that Russia reserved the right to take necessary retaliatory measures in accordance with its right to self-defence.

The foreign ministry also warned that any British military facilities on Ukrainian territory used to launch strikes against Russia would be regarded as legitimate targets.

Additionally, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday that Russian forces conducted two massive and five group strikes against Ukrainian defence plants, logistics hubs, energy and transport infrastructure and seized ten settlements in a week.

Among the hit targets were defence, metallurgical, motor and electronic enterprises, military logistics and distribution centres, fuel-power, railway and road infrastructure facilities, drone manufacturing workshops and storage facilities, ammunition and fuel depots, ports, as well as temporary deployment areas for Ukrainian armed forces and foreign mercenaries.

Regarding sea targets, the ministry added that 12 Ukrainian dry cargo ships, two sea ferries, one tanker and one tugboat were hit.

Over the week, Russian air defence systems shot down 44 guided aerial bombs, eight HIMARS rockets, two Neptune long-range guided missiles and 5,706 Ukrainian drones.

Riyadh, Sep 19: Explosions were heard in the Saudi capital Riyadh early Saturday. Local residents received air defence alerts via mobile apps.

The Saudi Directorate of Civil Defence later issued a statement on X saying the danger has passed in Riyadh and Al-Kharj and urged residents to continue following its instructions and avoid gathering or filming.

Earlier it had warned: “An alert has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform for Emergency Cases in Al-Kharj Governorate to warn of a danger.”

Earlier on Thursday, one person was killed, and two others were injured after debris from an intercepted and destroyed drone launched by the Houthi group fell in Taif, western Saudi Arabia, the Saudi Civil Defence said.

A Civil Defence spokesperson said in a statement posted on social media platform X that Civil Defence teams in Taif responded after debris from the intercepted drone fell in the city.

The incident killed a Yemeni resident and injured a Saudi woman and a Pakistani resident, who is in critical condition, the spokesperson said, adding that a number of buildings and vehicles sustained material damage, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Saudi airstrikes hit several areas in northwestern and southwestern Yemen, killing at least one person, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported.

In the northwestern province of Hajjah, two airstrikes struck the city of Abs, killing one person and wounding another, according to al-Masirah. The strikes also destroyed four vehicles and damaged a house.

Further south, separate strikes targeted three telecommunications towers in Taiz province, the broadcaster reported.

There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities on the reported strikes or casualties.

On Wednesday, the Houthi group said that it had shot down a Saudi armed reconnaissance drone in Yemen’s northeastern Marib province and intercepted Saudi warplanes over Yemen’s western coast.

Royal Saudi Air Defence Forces intercepted and destroyed a hostile drone launched by the Houthis before it entered the prohibited airspace of Mecca on Tuesday.