Coalition reports wave of attacks on Saudi sites
According to a Reuters dispatch from Riyadh, the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen stated on Thursday that the Houthis had tried to strike numerous Saudi airports, ports and oil installations. The announcement came amid mounting hostilities between the Iran-backed movement and the kingdom. The coalition said that over the course of a week the Houthis had launched ballistic missiles and drones at important Saudi targets, retaliating for Riyadh's support of government troops in Yemen's resumed civil conflict.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5]
Speaking at a press conference, coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki reported that 20 Houthi attacks had been carried out against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh during the month, leaving 17 dead and 333 injured. That airport ranks among the kingdom's principal international aviation hubs. The coalition further stated that Houthi strikes on Abha airport, located in southwestern Saudi Arabia close to the Yemeni frontier, had resulted in three deaths and 28 wounded.[S1]
Advanced weaponry and regional support alleged
Maliki stated that the Houthis had obtained sophisticated weaponry through the assistance of regional players, among them ballistic missiles, drones and fast boats packed with explosives. He added that the coalition had eliminated 127 weapons storage sites and launch platforms located in Yemen's mountainous terrain. The spokesperson urged the Houthis to cease at once any operations aimed at civilians and civilian infrastructure, and advised the group to examine the coalition's statement closely and read between its lines.[S1][S8]
Not long after the coalition issued its statement, the Houthi military spokesperson declared Saudi airspace and airports unsafe, repeating a warning to airlines while leaving out airspace above the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis took the capital Sanaa in 2014, which triggered a Saudi-led military intervention the next year. The 2022 UN-brokered truce largely ended major combat, and a de facto truce persisted even after it lapsed six months later. Yet attempts to convert it into a durable political settlement have stalled amid rising regional tensions.[S1]
