Houthis Claim 7 Strikes on Saudi Airports, Oil Hubs, Air Base
In a statement, the group named Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport among its targets. It also said it struck Aramco facilities in Yanbu and the Rabigh oil refinery, both on the kingdom’s western Red Sea coast.
A further operation, according to the statement, went after crude pumping stations and the East-West pipeline, the route that carries oil from eastern Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea.
The Houthis said their strike on King Fahd International Airport in the eastern city of Dammam was “precise” and halted air traffic. They also claimed direct hits on Najran airport, close to the Yemeni border in the south, and on the Khamis Mushait air base in the southwest.
The group justified the assault by accusing Riyadh of launching 100 airstrikes in 24 hours that, it alleged, struck civilian sites in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas and left dozens dead or wounded. It put the total number of Saudi airstrikes and missile attacks since the current escalation began at 3,123.
Saudi authorities offered a different account. Saudi Civil Defense said air defenses intercepted two Houthi ballistic missiles fired toward the Mecca and Medina regions, with wreckage landing in four places. The agency said missile fragments fell in Wadi al-Mughammas in Mecca, while interception debris came down in Jeddah’s al-Nuzha district, Wadi Jalil in Taif and Masturah in Rabigh.
On the Mecca debris, a Saudi news channel reported that “fragments of one of the two missiles fell in Wadi al-Mughammas near the holy site of Arafat, 23 kilometers from the Grand Mosque in Mecca.”
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree rejected the suggestion that the group had targeted holy sites in Mecca or Medina. He said the operation hit oil facilities and military bases, and that details would be released “in due course.”
Earlier Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said it had intercepted and destroyed two Houthi ballistic missiles aimed at the cities of Taif and Yanbu.
The Houthis have held Sanaa and other parts of Yemen since 2014. Saudi Arabia has headed a military coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government against them since 2015. The latest round of fighting erupted in July after a 2022 ceasefire collapsed.
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