Houthis claim missile and drone strikes on Saudi oil, airport and military sites

Sanaa: Yemen’s Houthi group has claimed it carried out six missile and drone attacks targeting oil facilities, airports and a military position in Saudi Arabia, further escalating cross-border hostilities between the two sides.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said in a televised statement that three ballistic missile attacks targeted the Ras Tanura refinery and Saudi Aramco facilities in Abqaiq, both in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, as well as the Rabigh refinery on the Red Sea coast.

He said two additional operations targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with missiles and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam with a drone. Sarea claimed the drone attack disrupted air traffic, though Saudi authorities have not confirmed this.

The sixth claimed attack targeted what the Houthis described as a Saudi military command centre in the southern border region of Najran. Sarea alleged the strike caused casualties among Saudi soldiers and officers.

The Houthis said the attacks were in response to recent Saudi strikes on areas of Yemen under their control. The Saudi-led coalition said its air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired toward Riyadh on Thursday evening. Earlier, the coalition said it had intercepted three Houthi ballistic missiles—two aimed at Riyadh and one at the Eastern Province.

The Houthis separately said 27 people were killed in Saudi airstrikes on Houthi-held areas of Yemen.

Tensions between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia have intensified in recent weeks, with repeated cross-border attacks by both sides. Yemen has been in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting Saudi-led military intervention in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

(Inputs from IANS)