Houthis claim fresh strikes on Saudi oil facilities and airports as coalition intercepts missiles
Yemen's Houthi rebels said on Saturday that they launched new attacks on oil facilities and airports across Saudi Arabia. The claims came as the Saudi-led coalition said it destroyed two ballistic missiles fired towards Yanbu and Taif. There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities that the reported attacks hit their intended targets.
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According to the Houthi statement, the group targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh oil refinery, crude oil pumping stations and the East-West Pipeline. The same statement also named King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, an airport in Najran and an airbase in Khamis Mushait. In Yemen, the internationally recognised government said three ballistic missiles were fired at coast guard sites in Aden, with two hitting a coast guard headquarters and a third striking a coast guard building in the Tawahi district.
The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted the missiles aimed at Yanbu and Taif, while Saudi civil defence briefly issued alerts warning residents of potential danger in Taif, Yanbu, Mecca and Jeddah before saying the threat had passed. The reports point to a wider pattern of cross-border attacks that have again put energy infrastructure and transport hubs in the region under pressure. The Houthis also said their forces had targeted Saudi-backed military gatherings in Aden and a naval military base there, although there was no immediate comment from the coalition on that claim.
The latest claims matter because they revive a conflict pattern that had been largely contained by a 2022 UN-brokered truce. That ceasefire had sharply reduced cross-border strikes between the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa, and the Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognised government. Renewed attacks on airports, refineries and pipelines raise the risk of disruption to civilian aviation and energy infrastructure, while also increasing the chance of wider regional escalation.
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The Houthis have repeatedly used missile and drone attacks as part of their campaign against Saudi Arabia during the Yemen war, and the latest statements suggest they are again trying to project pressure beyond Yemen's borders. Saudi Arabia's warning system and the coalition's interception claims indicate that air defences were activated quickly, but the extent of any damage remains unclear. The reported strikes in Aden also show that the fighting is not limited to the Saudi-Yemen frontier and continues to affect government sites inside Yemen itself.
What remains unclear is whether any of the claimed strikes caused damage inside Saudi Arabia, and whether the missiles reported by the coalition were fully neutralised before impact. It is also not yet clear how many of the Houthi claims can be independently verified, or whether there will be an official Saudi statement on the incidents. The next developments to watch are any confirmation of damage, further coalition responses, and whether the renewed attacks affect the fragile truce framework that had limited cross-border violence since 2022.
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