The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said on Monday that it had carried out a military operation “aimed at neutralising sources of threat”. The armed group, meanwhile, claimed attacks on infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said its forces destroyed four ballistic missile launchers and five tunnels that the Houthis used to store missiles. In a post on X, he added that coalition forces had also attacked a missile depot, with the aim of cutting off Houthi supply lines between areas under their control.
Coalition targets along the front lines in Yemen
According to al-Maliki, the operation also hit Houthi defensive positions, gatherings of fighters and military equipment along the front lines inside Yemen. The coalition presented the strikes as a step to limit the group’s ability to move and resupply its forces.
Also read: Saudi-led coalition intercepts Houthi missile aimed at Riyadh · Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi missiles, issues shelter warnings
The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, have carried out a wave of strikes in recent weeks against Saudi airports and other infrastructure. The attacks follow a major escalation in Yemen’s war, in which Saudi Arabia supports the internationally recognised government against the group.
Riyadh airport attack and Saudi air defence claims
A Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh earlier this month killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. It was the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade, according to the figures in the reports.
The strikes forced the airport to close temporarily, led to the postponement of Saudi Arabia’s flagship investment conference until 2027, and disrupted travel plans for thousands of passengers. The airport reopened and flights resumed on Sunday, although the Houthis warned travellers to avoid the facility, calling it a “military target.”
The Houthis later claimed that they had hit the airport “with a ballistic missile, striking the target with precision”. The claim was made by military spokesman Yahya Saree in a social media post on Monday. Al-Maliki said Saudi air defences had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched towards Riyadh, while Saree said the group had struck oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia with drones.
On Sunday, the coalition said its air defences had intercepted at least 10 ballistic missiles. The kingdom’s civil defence agency said two people were injured in the south by falling debris and reported damage to several buildings and vehicles. Images released by the official press agency showed a building with part of its upper facade destroyed and large windows shattered, with glass scattered across the pavement.
Greek air defence talks amid renewed fighting in Yemen
As flights resumed at Riyadh airport, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed a key air defence system. Mitsotakis’s office said he “responded favourably to the kingdom’s request to keep the Patriot system in Saudi Arabia, given the current challenging circumstances.”
The office was referring to a battery of the US-made system that Greece deployed to Saudi Arabia in 2021. It protects energy infrastructure in Yanbu, on the Red Sea coast.
Yemen’s war reignited in the summer, when the Houthis announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia. Riyadh had intervened in 2015 to lead a coalition aimed at restoring the government that the Houthis ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. A 2022 truce that had halted most fighting collapsed last month, after the Houthis launched a lightning offensive and seized much of Yemen’s Red Sea coast from government forces.
Yemen’s government forces this month launched the “Operation Yemen Dawn” counteroffensive, which aims to recapture territory held by the Houthis. Separately, Saree said the group had fired ballistic missiles at “enemy” forces and weapons depots in Salah al-Din in Aden governorate and al-Wahat in Lahij governorate.
