The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi rebels said the group launched a ballistic missile toward Riyadh at dawn, but that the projectile was intercepted and destroyed after residents reported explosions across the capital.
Coalition spokesman wrote on X that the Houthis had also tried to strike civilians and civilian infrastructure in Bisha, Taif, Farasan and Yanbu. Those attacks, he said, “were thwarted by the Gulf monarchy’s air defences”.
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Dark smoke and flames were visible near Riyadh’s international airport as the Houthis claimed responsibility for attacks on targets in the Saudi capital and oil facilities along the coast.
An AFP journalist saw firefighters put out flames engulfing a fuel tank bearing the logo of Saudi oil giant Aramco at a depot near the airport.
The latest strikes came as the Houthi movement pressed a rapid offensive across Yemen, capturing large areas of one of the world’s poorest nations and forcing the internationally recognised government, supported by Saudi Arabia, into a hurried response.
Saudi Arabia has launched dozens of airstrikes against Houthi-held territory in an effort to halt the advance, but the campaign has so far failed to stop the group’s gains.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on Telegram that the attacks were carried out in response to what he called Saudi Arabia’s “criminal attempts to target the capital Sanaa”. He said the Yemeni Armed Forces had conducted “two successful military operations” using numerous ballistic and cruise missiles as well as drones.
“The first targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and the second targeted Aramco facilities in Yanbu,” Saree said.
Saudi authorities did not immediately comment, although officials had issued an air raid warning overnight.
Flight-tracking website FlightRadar24 reported “major problems” at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, placing the facility for a time at the highest level of its disruption index before flight activity gradually returned to normal.
Lightning offensive
The attacks marked the first time since Yemen’s civil war resumed that strikes have directly threatened the Saudi capital, adding a new layer of pressure to a global economy already shaken by seven months of war between the United States and Iran.
“The area is under a hostile aerial threat,” a message sent to Riyadh residents shortly before 3am said, instructing them to remain indoors.
Journalists heard two blasts before Saudi civil defence officials lifted the warning roughly 30 minutes later.
“I heard the alarm, then my windows shook,” a 27-year-old Riyadh resident living in the north of the city told AFP.
“It was definitely scary. I was not expecting this.”
‘Terrifying’
Another resident called the attack “terrifying”.
The incident followed Riyadh’s accusation on Wednesday that the Houthis had targeted Mecca, describing the alleged strike on Islam’s holy city as a “cowardly terrorist attack”. Mecca receives millions of pilgrims each year.
The Houthis rejected the claim, calling it a “worn-out lie”.
The group has said Riyadh has carried out dozens of retaliatory strikes each day since its offensive began this month to seize Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline and gain control of the strategically important Bab al-Mandab strait.
The United Nations said the renewed fighting had displaced more than 112,000 people
Riyadh also faced repeated attacks during an earlier phase of the conflict, including a March drone strike on the US embassy in the capital’s diplomatic quarter.
According to US news platform Axios, Washington rejected a Saudi request to launch strikes against the Houthis last week.
On Thursday, however, the United States approved the sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia in a deal worth $24.3 billion (€21.17 billion). The State Department said the aircraft would help the kingdom “deter current and future threats”.
‘Escalation trap’
“My read is that Saudi Arabia is entering into a phase of escalation with the Houthis and will respond, but they know the only way this ends is through negotiations,” said Anna Jacobs of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington.
“But both sides have a say in when that can happen and both sides seem locked in the escalation trap at this stage.”
The United Nations said the renewed violence had driven more than 112,000 people from their homes, while almost 3,000 others had crossed the sea to Djibouti.
The war in Yemen began in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and other parts of the country, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in March 2015.
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A fragile truce agreed by the warring sides in 2022 collapsed in July after the Houthis challenged Riyadh’s control of Yemeni airspace by permitting an Iranian aircraft to land in Yemen.
The group’s recent capture of the coastline has raised international alarm, with maritime trade already facing disruption because of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis maintain that shipping in the sea lane is not at risk, except for vessels linked to Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter.
The reported strike came as the Houthis strengthened their defences in the newly seized territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. Group members told journalists they had been installing radar systems and excavating tunnels.
Two Houthi sources told AFP that personnel from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards had visited the area in recent days.
