Houthis target airports in Yemen and Saudi Arabia as cross-border attacks intensify

Yemen's Transport Ministry said Houthi forces attacked Aden International Airport with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones early on Wednesday local time. The ministry said one missile landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land, and the aircraft was diverted to Jeddah. In a separate development, the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile north of Riyadh.

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The Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the group had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with several drones. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of an attack on the airport. The coalition said it was tracking the launch platform over Houthi-controlled Sanaa and gave no details of casualties or damage.

Earlier on Wednesday, it also said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile launched towards the south-western Saudi city of Khamis Mushait. The reported strike on Aden is significant because the airport is the main international gateway for parts of Yemen outside Houthi control. Any disruption there affects civilian aviation, including scheduled passenger flights and access to southern Yemen.

The reported diversion of the Cairo flight underlines how quickly airport operations can be affected when air defences and missile activity are active in the area. The Saudi claims also show that the conflict continues to spill across the border into sensitive infrastructure in the kingdom. The attacks came as fighting intensified on several fronts in Yemen after Saudi-backed government forces launched a counteroffensive against the Houthis.

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Government forces, with Saudi-led coalition air support, have been trying to retake the Red Sea coast around the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the city of Mocha. The same report said the Houthis had made territorial gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast in recent weeks, adding to the pressure on both military and civilian sites. More than 184,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the fighting started, according to the supplied material.

The latest claims fit a wider pattern of cross-border attacks linked to the Yemen war, which has repeatedly drawn in regional actors. The Houthis, who control Sanaa, have increasingly used missiles and drones against targets in Yemen and Saudi Arabia as the conflict has escalated. Airports are especially sensitive targets because they serve passengers, staff and commercial traffic, and even limited disruption can have wider security and economic effects.

The Bab el-Mandeb corridor also remains strategically important because of its role in global shipping. What remains unclear is the full extent of any damage at Aden International Airport and whether there were wider operational disruptions beyond the diverted flight. It is also not clear whether the Saudi claims of interceptions north of Riyadh and near Khamis Mushait will be independently confirmed.

Saudi Arabia says three people were wounded when airports in Jazan and Najran were struck near the border with Yemen. The Civil Aviation Authority said King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Airport in Jazan and Najran Airport were hit on Monday evening, causing material damage. The authority said the injured suffered minor wounds and were taken to hospital.

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The Saudi statement said specialised teams responded immediately after the attacks and that measures were being taken to protect passengers and staff. It also said damage assessments were continuing. The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, said late on Monday that their forces had targeted sites across southern Saudi Arabia, including airports and military sites.

The attacks come amid a wider escalation in fighting in Yemen, where forces aligned with the internationally recognised government are battling the Houthis. The Saudi-led coalition said early on Tuesday that it destroyed a ballistic missile launch platform in Sanaa and a storage facility in Saada containing 20 ballistic missiles. The coalition also said government-aligned forces had retaken the port city of Mocha and were now in control of the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a strategic shipping route.

The incident matters because it extends the conflict across the border into civilian aviation infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Airports are sensitive targets because they serve passengers, staff and commercial traffic, and any disruption can have wider economic and security effects. The Gulf Cooperation Council secretary-general described attacks on airports and civilian facilities as a dangerous escalation, while Kuwait's foreign ministry condemned what it called continued attacks on Saudi Arabia.

The latest strikes also fit a pattern of cross-border attacks linked to the Yemen war, which has repeatedly drawn in regional actors. Saudi Arabia has backed the internationally recognised government, while the Houthis have controlled Sanaa since 2014 and remain a central force in the conflict. The reported attacks on Jazan and Najran follow earlier claims of strikes on Saudi infrastructure, including the capital's airport and an energy site, although those claims were not independently verified in the supplied material.

What remains unclear is the full extent of the damage at the two airports and whether there were any wider operational disruptions. It is also not clear how the latest attacks will affect the fighting in Yemen or the response from Saudi and coalition forces. Further official updates are likely as damage assessments continue and the military situation develops.

Yemen's Houthi movement has claimed a new attack on the main airport in the Saudi capital, alongside a strike on a refinery belonging to the state oil company Aramco. The claims came as fighting intensified in Yemen and along the Red Sea coast, with both sides reporting gains and counter-offensives. The situation on the ground remained fluid, and the claims could not be independently verified.

According to the supplied report, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on Telegram that the group still held all territory it had recently seized, including strategic areas along the Red Sea coast. He said Houthi fighters had carried out dozens of strikes in the past few hours targeting government forces in Yemen's Al-Jawf and Marib regions, as well as Taiz governorate. The same report said loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital on the previous night.

Government forces said they had pushed the Houthis out of the Bab al-Mandab area, a key shipping route in the Red Sea, and out of the port city of Mocha, which had been captured last month. Military sources, however, stopped short of formally confirming that Mocha had been taken, saying only that supply lines to the area had been cut. Yemen's civilian aviation authority also said at least three people were wounded in attacks on Jazan and Najran airports near the border a day earlier.

The reported strikes matter because they link the fighting in Yemen directly to Saudi infrastructure and to a major maritime corridor. Bab al-Mandab is one of the most sensitive chokepoints in global shipping, and any fighting there raises concerns for trade and regional security. The reported attack on Riyadh airport also suggests the conflict is extending beyond the immediate front lines in Yemen.

The broader conflict has escalated after years of relative calm, with Yemen's civil war flaring again in July. The report said this opened a new front in the wider Middle East war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February. It also said the Houthis seized control of Yemen's entire western coastline along the Red Sea last month, in the country's deadliest fighting in years.

Saudi Arabia has been providing air support for the government's counter-offensive, according to the report, while the Yemeni government says it aims to retake all Houthi-held territory. The Houthis have also regularly targeted oil and military installations in recent weeks, adding to the pressure on both military and civilian infrastructure. What remains unclear is the full extent of the damage from the latest claimed strikes and whether either side's battlefield claims will be confirmed in the coming days.

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