Yemen’s Houthi movement says it hit Saudi Arabia from one end to the other within a single day. Military spokesman Yahya Saree listed seven separate operations with ballistic missiles and drones, and the targets read like a map of the kingdom’s economic lifelines.
Dammam’s main airport on the Gulf coast was on the list, too. In the capital, it claimed King Khalid International Airport, hit twice by its account. On the Red Sea coast it pointed to an Aramco site in Yanbu and the refinery at Rabigh, and it also said it went after pumping stations on the East-West pipeline that carries crude across the desert. Rounding things off were strikes it says landed at Najran, close to Yemen, and at the military airfield of Khamis Mushait. None of these hits has been independently confirmed, and Saudi officials did not respond directly to the claims.
What Riyadh did report was a series of interceptions. The coalition it leads said missiles bound for Yanbu, Taif and Riyadh were shot down, along with a drone over the Eastern Province. Saudi civil defence added an unsettling detail: debris came down in the Mecca and Medina regions, including in Wadi al-Mughammas, roughly 23 kilometres from the Grand Mosque. The Houthis rejected any suggestion that they aimed at Islam’s holiest cities, calling it a “huge lie”. Gulf states, speaking through their regional council, branded the strikes “heinous”.
The rebels frame the barrage as payback, accusing the coalition of around 100 air raids on Sanaa and other areas they hold over the preceding day. Separately, Yemen’s internationally recognised government accused the rebels of aiming ballistic missiles at coastguard posts in Aden.
Cross-border strikes have become routine since the 2022 truce broke down in July amid the wider Iran war. Riyadh’s main airport had planned to reopen on Sunday after a two-week shutdown; the Houthis promptly warned it remains a military target.
