Saudi-led coalition says intercepted three drones as Houthis claim attacks on Saudi airport, airbase
Riyadh: The Saudi-led coalition said that it had intercepted three drones targeting Saudi territory, one of them over the western Mecca region, while Yemen’s Houthi group said it had launched drone and ballistic missile attacks on an airport and an airbase in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki said on social media platform X that its forces had intercepted and destroyed a drone over the Mecca region, without providing further details.
He later said that two drones had also been intercepted and destroyed, one in the Eastern Province and the other heading toward the southern region, Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, in a statement on social media platform X, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said the group launched two attacks in Saudi Arabia’s southwestern Asir region, targeting Abha International Airport with a drone and King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait with a ballistic missile. He claimed the drone strike disrupted air traffic at the airport and that the missile directly hit the airbase.
Inside Yemen, Sarea said, Houthi forces fired several ballistic missiles at government forces in the Ras al-Arah and Al-Mudarabah areas of the southern province of Lahj, near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, claiming the strikes caused dozens of casualties.
In a separate attack, Sarea said, several ballistic missiles targeted forces east of Al-Jawf, a northern province bordering Saudi Arabia. He claimed the strikes killed or wounded a large number of personnel and destroyed several military vehicles.
The casualty and damage claims from the attacks could not be independently verified.
Meanwhile, a Houthi military source, quoted by the Sanaa-based, Houthi-run version of the Saba news agency, cautioned investors in Saudi oil giant Aramco about what he described as potential financial and security risks.
The source warned that Aramco’s facilities remained “within range” of Houthi forces.
The latest developments come amid a renewed escalation in Yemen’s long-running conflict, with intensified ground fighting and airstrikes inside the country accompanied by Houthi missile and drone attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government.
