Yemen’s Houthis say 11 killed in strikes on Sanaa; Saudis say two missiles shot down

Houthi media reported Saturday that Saudi strikes killed 11 people in Yemeni capital Sanaa, shortly after the Saudi-led coalition fighting them said it had intercepted two missiles targeting Saudi cities.

The Houthis’ Al-Masirah outlet reported a series of “Saudi enemy airstrikes” targeting Sanaa, including one on a house that killed at least four people and wounded several others.

A separate strike at a residence building for cement factory workers in the Sanaa governorate killed six women and one child and wounded three others, the broadcaster said.

Yemen’s civil war, pitting the Iran-backed Houthis against the Saudi-supported and internationally recognized government, had been dormant since a ceasefire in 2022, but erupted again in July as the wider Middle East war roiled the region.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on Saturday 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.

He also said the group targeted King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, an airport in Najran and an airbase in Khamis Mushait.

The Saudi-led coalition earlier said it destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by Houthis towards Yanbu and Taif.

Saudi Civil Defense said debris from intercepted missiles had fallen in the Mecca and Medina regions, home to Islam’s holiest sites visited by millions of Muslim pilgrims every year.

It said parts of the intercepted missiles fell in Wadi al-Mughammas in Mecca, while debris also fell in areas in Jeddah, Taif and Rabigh. It was not clear if that was linked to the Houthis’ reported targeting of the Rabigh oil refinery.

Shortly after that, Houthis denied that they attacked Mecca and Medina, saying that their operations “target Saudi oil facilities and military bases.”

In Yemen, the Interior Ministry of the internationally recognized government said two of the Houthis’ missiles had struck a coast guard headquarters, while a third hit a coast guard building in the Tawahi district.

Houthi spokesman Saree said the group’s forces had targeted Saudi-backed military gatherings at what he called Al-Nasr camp and a naval base in Aden, saying Saudi officers were overseeing the mobilization there.

There was no immediate comment from the Saudi-led coalition on that assertion.

Diplomats evacuated

The Gulf kingdom has come under repeated attack from Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis in recent weeks.

The group has targeted the kingdom’s oil infrastructure as well as its airports.

Yanbu is a major oil export hub on the Red Sea coast that has allowed Riyadh to bypass Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for much of its crude exports.

An attack on Riyadh airport earlier this month killed 13 people and wounded dozens more, while this week the US ordered non-essential embassy staff and their families to leave Saudi Arabia, citing the Houthi threat.

Riyadh leads a military coalition that first intervened in the conflict, which has devastated Yemen and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, in 2015.

The dramatic escalation in Yemen, with the Houthis taking control of the entire Red Sea coast in a lightning offensive last month, has further destabilized the region and disrupted oil markets.

Egypt has suggested sending troops to help defend Saudi Arabia, while Britain and France have offered their forces to protect the Gulf kingdom.