Claim: Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced that Houthi forces had captured 85 Saudi-led coalition soldiers, including 47 Pakistanis, near Bab al-Mandab.
Fact: Saree’s documented 11 October statement does not mention 85 captured coalition soldiers or 47 Pakistani prisoners. Soch Fact Check found no authenticated original statement corroborating the alleged announcement.
A Facebook post published by WD News English on 12 October 2026 claimed that Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said Houthi forces had captured 85 Saudi-led coalition soldiers during fighting in the Bab al-Mandab area, including 47 Pakistanis.
WD News English attributed the alleged capture of 47 Pakistani soldiers to Yahya Saree. Source: Facebook / Screenshot
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check investigated the claim by reviewing Saree’s documented statements on his official Telegram channel, along with contemporary reporting and Houthi-affiliated coverage. We found that his documented 11 October 2026 military statement referred to strikes and casualties, but did not include any reference to 85 captured soldiers, including 47 Pakistanis.
What Saree actually announced on 11 October
Soch Fact Check located Arabic and English written statements dated 11 October 2026 in Saree’s Telegram archive. The individual posts are available in Arabic and English.
Saree’s Arabic and English statements from 11 October 2026 do not mention 47 Pakistani prisoners. Source: Telegram / Screenshot
The statement describes attacks on Saudi airports and Aramco facilities. Its battlefield passage discusses strikes against opposing forces near Ras al-Ara and al-Saqiya. The English version says these strikes “resulted in killing and wounding dozens of the enemy troops.”
Neither version mentions 85 captured coalition soldiers or 47 Pakistani prisoners. These texts, therefore, do not substantiate the attribution circulating online. An earlier statement attributed to Saree by the Houthi-run Saba news agency on 9 October describes fighting near Bab al-Mandab, destroyed vehicles, and casualties, but likewise makes no claim about 85 captives or 47 Pakistani prisoners. These statements are claims by a party to the conflict, and their accounts of military operations have not been independently verified by Soch Fact Check.
Contemporary reporting describes the same announcement
Xinhua’s Arabic report, published on 12 October and dated 11 October, describes a televised statement by Saree broadcast on the Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah channel.
It reports the airport and oil-facility claims, along with alleged casualties near Ras al-Ara and al-Saqiya. It contains no announcement about Pakistani prisoners. Xinhua also explicitly states that the military assertions could not be independently verified.
An Echo24 report dated 11 October reproduces the Arabic announcement through an embedded post attributed to Saree’s X account. The reproduced statement likewise contains no announcement about 85 prisoners or 47 Pakistanis.
Both reports describe the same 11 October announcement without mentioning 85 prisoners or 47 Pakistanis. Since they rely on that underlying statement, their omissions are consistent with the original text but do not independently establish what Saree may have said elsewhere.
Separately, Saba’s 14 October report said Houthi military media had released footage purporting to show the capture of an unspecified number of opposing personnel during fighting at Dhubab Airport in Taiz governorate.
The Saba report did not identify Pakistani prisoners or give the figures of 85 or 47. Soch Fact Check has not independently authenticated the footage or established the identities of those shown. This report does not substantiate the specific announcement attributed to Saree.
What the available evidence establishes
The retrieved Arabic and English statements from 11 October, contemporary reporting on that announcement, and a separate Houthi-affiliated report about unspecified prisoners do not substantiate the announcement attributed to Saree about 85 prisoners, including 47 Pakistanis.
None of the statements examined contains the alleged figures, and reports repeating the attribution provide no authenticated original announcement or recording. Our conclusion is based on the evidence available. The investigation did not examine every recording or obtain a response from Saree’s office, so any subsequently authenticated statement would require review and, if necessary, a correction.
Whether Houthi forces actually captured Pakistani soldiers is a separate factual question, which the present investigation does not resolve.
Virality
The claim circulated on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, and X. We identified 12 Facebook posts, six Instagram posts, two Threads posts, and two X (formerly Twitter) posts sharing the allegation.
Conclusion: The viral claim falsely attributes an announcement about 85 captured coalition soldiers, including 47 Pakistanis, to Yahya Saree. His documented 11 October statement makes no such claim, and the reviewed reports do not support any such claim. This finding does not establish whether any Pakistani soldiers were captured by Houthi forces.
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