Apparent Houthi attacks trigger alerts in 6 Saudi cities; Riyadh vows response
Saudi authorities say 13 hurt in Monday attacks, while Iran-backed group claims Riyadh launched 50 airstrikes in response; Strait of Hormuz traffic dwindles amid regional escalation
Apparent Houthi attacks early Tuesday morning triggered warnings in six Saudi cities, including Yanbu, the kingdom’s main Red Sea oil port, and Riyadh warned it would react “firmly” to the Iran-backed rebels’ ongoing missile and drone attacks.
Saudi Civil Defense said later on Tuesday the danger had passed in Jeddah, Abha, Jazan, AlUla and Taif, and that the alerts were lifted.
The Houthis have been engaged in renewed fighting with Saudi-backed government forces since Yemen’s civil war reignited in July, when the group declared a maritime blockade on Riyadh and began targeting its ships in the Red Sea.
The group seized control last week of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which has become vital as the wider US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz, in a significant blow to Yemeni government forces.
It has also targeted the oil infrastructure of Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading crude exporter, pushing oil prices above the $100 threshold.
Also Tuesday, the Riyadh-led coalition confirmed there had been missile and drone attacks the previous day on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif, reporting 13 wounded.
The Houthis had claimed a new “large-scale” attack using “dozens of ballistic missiles and drones” against the King Khalid airbase in Khamis Mushait, in southern Saudi Arabia.
A Khamis Mushait resident said he heard “intense blasts” that left fires burning for a “long time.”
“Honestly, we couldn’t sleep at all.”
Riyadh responded with more than 50 strikes, as it had the day before, according to the Houthis.
The coalition said it would deal with the attacks “firmly to protect the sovereignty of the Kingdom” and would take “all necessary operational measures to deter this… hostile and extremist approach.”
US media reported last week US President Donald Trump had rejected a personal request from the Saudi crown prince to intervene in the war.
Hazem al-Assad from the Houthis’ politburo said the “Yemeni response will continue and escalate as long as [Saudi Arabia] persist in their aggression against our people.”
Meanwhile, a Houthi strike in western Yemen on Monday killed eight soldiers from government forces, according to two military sources.
The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains at a stalemate. But Trump on Monday said he was open to holding talks with Iran.
“The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly. I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage — The concept of which we are open to,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
Iran’s top security chief Mohsen Rezaei said on X that “there will be no negotiations until Iran’s conditions are met. That is all there is to it.”
Wider regional war
A proposed meeting between Gulf states and Iran over the future of Hormuz was postponed on Monday, with Tehran accusing Riyadh of using Yemen as a “pretext” to delay the talks.
Shipping traffic in the key waterway dwindled further at the start of this week after attacks intensified in the Middle East, shipping data showed.
Commodity vessel transits at Hormuz totaled four on Monday, down from ten during the previous day, preliminary data from Kpler showed on Tuesday.
Tehran has long supported the Houthis, a member of its anti-Israel so-called “Axis of Resistance,” including with weapons and technology.
MBS-Sissi talks
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was expected to hold talks with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Tuesday, Cairo announced.
The Saudi crown prince received US Central Command chief Admiral Brad Cooper in Jeddah on Monday to discuss “the latest developments in the region,” according to Saudi news agency SPA.
The admiral traveled to Saudi Arabia on Thursday for urgent coordination meetings, according to US news site Axios.
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 at the outset of the civil war, driving the government to Aden in the south.
The following year, Saudi Arabia led a coalition to intervene on the side of the government, launching wave after wave of airstrikes as the conflict escalated into one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
The UN’s migration agency said Monday the renewed fighting in the Arab world’s poorest country had forced 93,864 people to flee their homes.