Iran-backed Houthi rebels say Saudi-led airstrikes have killed 14 people in a busy market in northern Yemen.
Yemeni officials, meanwhile, appealed for international support to protect civilians in Taiz as the Houthis tightened their siege of the city.
Separately, a police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in the Serbian capital of Belgrade shot and killed a man who attacked him with a knife. Police said the incident was a “terrorist attack.”
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is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Read our full coverage here.
Saudi-led airstrikes hit a crowded market in northern Yemen on Wednesday, killing 14 people and wounding 15 others, according to the Houthi-run Health Ministry. Three women were among the wounded, it said, adding that shops and houses nearby were heavily damaged.
The market near a gas station in al-Hazm, the capital of al-Jawf province, was packed with shoppers when the strikes hit, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry called the attack a war crime that requires an international investigation. There was no immediate statement from the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
An Associated Press reporter in the southern city of Aden witnessed explosions that shattered windows at the airport building and nearby homes after Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree urged everyone at the airport to evacuate.
Saree said a Saudi military cargo plane carrying weapons was there, without providing evidence.
Aden’s airport was completely deserted after the Houthi warning, airport employee Salem Al-Awlaqi told The Associated Press. A security official who spoke on condition of anonymity said no staff or security personnel remained. Flights from Cairo and Mumbai bound for Aden were diverted to Seiyun Airport in Yemen’s Hadramawt province, and a flight to Cairo was canceled, the official said.
Yemeni government officials urged the international community to help protect civilians and reopen roads into the city of Taiz as Iran-backed Houthi rebels tightened their siege of the city.
Taiz province has emerged as a major battlefront in recent weeks, including the city of Taiz — considered a gateway to the country's south. It has taken in around half of Yemen’s population displaced by fighting, straining limited resources.
The Taiz governor, Nabil Shamsan, said residents had lost access to about 3 million liters (about 793,000 gallons) of water previously available from wells in Wadi al-Dhubab, which he said is now under Houthi control. The AP couldn’t independently verify that claim.
Eshraq al-Maqtari, a legal affairs minister in Yemen’s internationally recognized government, said more than 2,000 projectiles and explosives fired by the Houthis struck Taiz city districts in recent days and called for measures to cut off the rebels' weapon supplies and funding.
Shamsan said fighting had intensified across the province as the Houthis deployed reinforcements to multiple fronts, with the city encircled on all four sides.
Health officials at Nasser Hospital said a midafternoon strike hit near a Red Cross field hospital in Rafah on Wednesday, killing three people and injuring 15 more, including five seriously. A strike earlier in the day killed one man and critically wounded a woman. Another strike wounded at least five more people.
Israel’s military did not respond to a request for comment.
More than 1,550 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by the Israeli military since the ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas began in October 2025, according to the territory’s health ministry. The ministry maintains records and is regarded as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it was continuing its sweeping operation in the occupied West Bank in response to an attack that killed two soldiers and wounded three others last week. The operation, centered in the city of Hebron, has displaced thousands of Palestinians and placed tight restrictions on their movement.
The two gunmen who carried out the attack were shot and killed. The military said Wednesday that it arrested six more people who were allegedly involved in planning terror attacks, including one person with ties to Hamas. It said it confiscated weapons, including an M16 rifle.
An assailant armed with knives attacked a police officer guarding the Israeli Embassy in Belgrade, Serbia, just after midnight on Wednesday, police said. The officer, who was slightly wounded in the face, responded by fatally shooting the attacker.
Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said police were treating the incident as a “terrorist attack” and had raised the terror threat to the highest level. Police presence at key locations was increased.
He described the attacker as a minor who had two knives. He attacked the member of the Gendarmerie, shouting Allahu Akbar, or “God is great” in Arabic.
A meeting between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey in Tehran on Monday provided an opportunity to advance dialogue and regional peace, Iran’s top diplomat said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on social media that the countries should be responsible for their own security without the military presence of “extraregional powers.”
The talks came amid growing speculation about the return to all-out war and as Saudi Arabia continues to face repeated attacks from the Houthis in Yemen.
Araghchi gave no details on the meeting.
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This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.
