Facilities

Coalition says it destroyed ballistic missile launchers as well as tunnels and a depot used by the Houthis to store missiles.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis has said it carried out a military operation “aimed at neutralising sources of threat”, as the armed group claimed attacks on infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on Monday its forces destroyed four ballistic missile launchers and five tunnels used by the Houthis to store missiles.

In a post on X, he also said coalition forces attacked a missile depot, adding that the operation “focused on cutting off Houthi militia supply lines between areas under their control”.

The operation also targeted Houthi “fortifications, gatherings of their members, and their military equipment along the front lines inside Yemen”.

The Houthis – also known as Ansar Allah, Arabic for Supporters of God – have carried out a wave of strikes in recent weeks against Saudi airports and other infrastructure. This follows a major escalation in fighting in Yemen’s war, in which Saudi Arabia is supporting the internationally recognised government fighting the Houthis.

A Houthi attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid international airport this month killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade.

The attacks led to the airport’s temporary closure, forcing the postponement of Saudi Arabia’s flagship investment conference until 2027 and disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers.

The airport reopened and flights resumed on Sunday with the Houthis warning travellers to avoid the facility, calling it a “military target.”

Houthis claim new attacks

The Houthis later claimed they attacked the airport “with a ballistic missile, striking the target with precision”, according to a post by Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree on social media on Monday.

Al-Maliki said on Monday that Saudi air defences “intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh.”

Saree also said that the Houthis had struck oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia with drones.

In a separate statement, Saree also claimed responsibility for more ballistic missile attacks on “enemy” forces and weapons depots in Yemen.

He said the attacks targeted positions in the Salah al-Din area of Aden governorate and the al-Wahat area of Lahij governorate.

Yemen’s war reignited in the summer when the Houthis announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia, which intervened in 2015 to lead a coalition aimed at restoring the internationally recognised government that was ousted from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis in 2014.

A 2022 truce that had halted most fighting collapsed last month, as the Houthis launched a lightning offensive, seizing much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast from government forces and also attacking Saudi energy facilities and airports.

Yemen’s government forces this month launched the “Operation Yemen Dawn” counteroffensive, aimed at recapturing territory held by the Houthis.

‘Everything is shaking’

As operations resumed at Riyadh airport, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) and discussed a key air defence system.

Mitsotakis “responded favourably to the kingdom’s request to keep the Patriot system in Saudi Arabia, given the current challenging circumstances”, his office said, referring to a battery of the US-made air defence system deployed by Greece to Saudi Arabia in 2021, which protects energy infrastructure in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast.

On Sunday, the Saudi-led military coalition said air defences intercepted at least 10 ballistic missiles.

The kingdom’s civil defence agency said two people were injured in the south by falling debris, also reporting damage to several buildings and vehicles.

Images released by the kingdom’s official press agency showed a building with part of its upper facade destroyed, exposing metal rods. Another image captured large windows shattered, with shards of glass strewn across the pavement and part of the road.

Explosions in Sanaa reported shortly after Saudi-led coalition’s evacuation order as Houthis promise ‘harsh’ response.

Yemen’s Houthis have warned all employees and civilians near Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities to evacuate, calling the sites “a legitimate target”.

The group’s spokesman, Yahya Saree, issued an evacuation alert on Tuesday following the Saudi-led coalition’s statement urging civilians to evacuate Yemeni Oil Company’s al-Sabah central station in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa before a planned military operation.

Shortly after the Saudi-led coalition’s evacuation order, Al Jazeera’s team on the ground reported hearing explosions in Sanaa. Media outlets affiliated with the Houthis said air strikes by the Saudi-backed forces struck an oil facility in the al-Sabaha area of the capital.

Following the reported explosions, Saree said Houthi fighters were confronting Saudi-backed forces in Sanaa.

Saree responded to the coalition’s evacuation order, warning that any strikes on Sanaa would be met with a “harsh and painful” response in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh.

In a statement on X, Saree said the Houthis would target the sites that were ordered to be evacuated if the Saudi-led coalition proceeded with an attack on Sanaa.

Civilians were told to evacuate the Aramco Company headquarters in Dammam, King Khalid International Airport and a refinery affiliated with Aramco in Riyadh.

An attack on King Khalid International Airport on Saturday left at least 13 people dead and more than 300 injured, rocking the world’s top crude oil exporter. Another person was killed, and 11 were wounded on Sunday after a projectile struck the airport in Riyadh.

Many international airlines have since suspended flights to Saudi ⁠⁠Arabia and ⁠⁠neighbouring countries following the deadly weekend attacks by the Houthis, including Air France-KLM, Air India, Etihad, Lufthansa, Delta, Gulf Air and Qatar Airways.

The kingdom, which backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government, was still weathering new attacks on Tuesday, with the coalition saying its forces intercepted three drones north of Riyadh.

Saree also reiterated the Houthis’ warning to airports in Saudi Arabia following recent attacks on multiple airports and oil facilities across the country since last week in a spillover from the wider regional conflict between the US and Iran.

Saudi Arabia has in recent ⁠⁠weeks launched strikes against the Houthis and is backing a Yemeni government counteroffensive known as the “Dawn of Yemen” after the group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast ‌‌last month.