The Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen said they had struck the international airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh, a Saudi Aramco refinery and other sites across the kingdom’s south in response to the Saudi-led coalition’s attacks on Houthi military targets earlier Monday.
The attacks, which included drones, ballistic and cruise missiles, targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement, adding that the Aramco refinery in Rabigh was also hit along with military sites and smaller airports.
The statement also warned “all global airlines using Saudi airspace against continuing their flights,” with the exception of airspace over Mecca and Medina.
Saudi Arabia and allies attacked military targets in Yemen
A Saudi Arabia-led coalition in Yemen said Monday it had struck “military targets” belonging to the Houthis in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast.
Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said on X that its naval forces had “destroyed weapons depots, facilities storing booby-trapped boats and naval mines” and had “thwarted a planned attack” targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea.
The Yemeni military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes and began an offensive against the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, while the Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government said 100 warplanes flew sorties at dawn.
The government had announced on Sunday the lofty goal of retaking all Houthi territory — home to most of Yemen’s population, and much of it held for more than a decade.
Last month, the Iran-backed group seized swathes of coastline along the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a chokepoint for oil and cargo shipping, in Yemen’s deadliest fighting in years.
CBS
