Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have wounded at least 73 civilians in a series of strikes on Saudi Arabia, including attacks on Abha International Airport, King Khalid air base, and facilities belonging to state oil giant Aramco, the Saudi-led military coalition announced on Tuesday. Major-General Turki al-Maliki, the coalition's spokesman, condemned the strikes as a "dangerous escalation" and a "blatant violation" of Saudi sovereignty, warning they posed a direct threat to citizens and residents. The Saudi Ministry of Energy confirmed that energy sector facilities in the kingdom's southern regions were targeted early Tuesday, sparking fires and forcing a temporary halt to some operations. The coalition vowed to take "all necessary operational measures" against the sources of the threat.
The attacks on Saudi territory came amid sharply intensifying ground combat in Yemen itself. Since late August, more than 1,078 people have been killed or wounded, according to the World Health Organization, with more than 21,000 displaced since the Houthi offensive began on Thursday. On Friday alone, 129 people were killed across multiple fronts. By Saturday, fresh clashes had killed over 60 more, including 26 government troops, 31 Houthi fighters, and six civilians killed when a missile struck a bus travelling between the city of Taiz and Aden, the seat of the internationally recognised government.
The Houthis launched their latest offensive along Yemen's western Red Sea coast with the aim of capturing territory bordering the Bab al-Mandab Strait — the narrow chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The strait has taken on heightened strategic importance since Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping, making it a critical route for Saudi oil exports. Fighting has since spread beyond the western coast to the provinces of al-Dhalea, Marib, al-Jawf, and al-Bayda, as government forces seek to stretch Houthi lines. Saudi airstrikes have targeted Houthi positions recently seized near Taiz, and military reinforcements have been flowing in from Aden.
The conflict also carried a sharp accusatory edge this week. The Houthis alleged that Saudi airstrikes hit a prison in al-Hazm, in northern al-Jawf governorate, killing at least 11 people and leaving 20 inmates missing under rubble, with a child reported among the dead. Riyadh has not commented on the allegation. Yemen's war originally erupted in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention the following year. A UN-brokered truce largely held from 2022 until this July, when hostilities reignited following the wider regional conflict that drew in the United States, Israel, and Iran. Analysts describe the renewed Yemen fighting as an emerging front in that broader West Asia war, with the Houthis also announcing a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and beginning to target Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea.