Saudi Arabia struck fuel and energy facilities in Houthi-held parts of Yemen on Tuesday, hours before saying it had intercepted missiles aimed at Riyadh and at Dhahran, the eastern city that hosts the headquarters of the state oil giant Saudi Aramco. Falling debris injured at least four people and damaged homes in the capital, according to Saudi statements, while the Houthis, an Iran-backed movement that controls Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, threatened a "harsh and painful" response.
The Saudi-led coalition said its targets included the Al-Sabaha central station on the western edge of Sanaa, underground fuel reserves and storage tanks, and energy sites in Hodeidah, Sanaa and Dhamar. It said they supplied the Houthi missile and drone arsenal. The Houthis said the Sanaa site had "no military value," and Yemen's oil company said its storage there was empty. The coalition had issued an evacuation warning for civilians near the site, its first such order for Sanaa since the war flared up again. In response, the Houthis named Riyadh's airport, a refinery in the capital and Aramco facilities in the east as potential targets, and told workers to stay away.
The latest escalation follows a Houthi cruise missile strike on Saturday on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, which killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. Most of the dead were reportedly pilgrims bound for Mecca. A second attack on Sunday killed an airport worker. The airport is closed until at least October 17, and about a dozen airlines have suspended flights to the kingdom. Analysts say the attacks crossed a red line for a leadership that had absorbed earlier strikes on oil infrastructure, because they killed civilians and threaten Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's drive to attract foreign investment. Riyadh, home to some 8.5 million people, is central to that plan.
On the ground, a four-year Saudi-Houthi truce has collapsed. The Houthis seized key areas along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital Red Sea chokepoint for Gulf oil shipping, and are pressing on the southern city of Taiz, where residents face rocket fire and medicine shortages. Yemen's internationally recognised government says its own offensive is advancing. Anti-Houthi forces are divided, however: the separatist Southern Transitional Council, whose exiled leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi called for popular mobilisation, seeks independence for the south.
Riyadh says it is fighting the Houthis, not Iran, and its foreign minister spoke with his Iranian counterpart on Sunday. Saudi insiders cited by the Christian Science Monitor say they want to deter the Houthis without widening the wider US-Israel-Iran war. Analyst Baraa Shiban of the Royal United Services Institute notes that the Houthis' smaller, lower-flying and cheap drones are harder to detect.
International involvement is growing. President Donald Trump said the Houthis were "behaving very badly" and suggested they were trying to push up oil prices before the US midterm elections, but announced no military action. A Houthi official warned the group would target US interests if Washington joined the war. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged support to the crown prince; Turkey and Pakistan signed a mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia this year, and both are reportedly sending equipment and personnel.