RIYADH (The Thursday Times) — Yemen’s Houthis have claimed six attacks on airports, oil facilities and a military headquarters across Saudi Arabia, days after the Makkah defence pact countries and Iran agreed in Tehran to keep talking to ease regional tensions.
Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said on X that the group had targeted the Ras Tanura refinery and the Rabigh refinery with ballistic missiles, an Aramco facility at Abqaiq with a missile, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with several missiles, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam with a drone, and a Saudi military headquarters in Najran. There was no independent confirmation of the claims, and Saudi authorities have not confirmed strikes on those sites.
Earlier on Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition said its air defences had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired towards Riyadh. Saudi Civil Defence said shrapnel from the interception wounded one Saudi citizen and damaged a house and a vehicle. Warnings had been issued in Riyadh, Al-Kharj and Najran.
After the Tehran talks
The attacks follow Monday’s meeting in Tehran hosted by Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei and attended by Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, after which the participants agreed to keep talking. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry stressed “the importance of opening channels of negotiation to prevent a return to military escalation”.
The claims come after a week of Houthi missile fire at the kingdom, including a missile intercepted over the Eastern Province on Thursday, the third attack in three days. Yemen’s internationally recognised government on Thursday called on the UN Security Council to take “deterrent and punitive measures” over Houthi attacks on Aden International Airport.
