Saudi-Led Coalition Says It Destroyed Houthi Missile Launchers and Tunnels as Fighting Escalates

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis said on Monday that it had carried out a military operation "aimed at neutralising sources of threat," even as the armed group claimed new attacks on infrastructure in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said forces destroyed four ballistic missile launchers and five tunnels the Houthis used to store missiles. In a post on X, he added that a missile depot was also hit and that the operation "focused on cutting off Houthi militia supply lines between areas under their control." Houthi fortifications, gatherings of members and military equipment along front lines inside Yemen were also targeted, he said.

The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, which is Arabic for Supporters of God, have launched a wave of strikes in recent weeks on Saudi airports and other infrastructure. The attacks follow a major escalation in a war in which Saudi Arabia backs Yemen's internationally recognised government.

This month, a Houthi attack on Riyadh's King Khalid international airport killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. It was the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade. The airport was temporarily closed, travel plans for thousands of passengers were disrupted, and Saudi Arabia's flagship investment conference was postponed until 2027.

The airport reopened and flights resumed on Sunday, but the Houthis warned travellers to stay away, calling it a "military target." On Monday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed on social media that the group had hit the airport again "with a ballistic missile, striking the target with precision." Al-Maliki, however, said Saudi air defences "intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh."

Saree also said the Houthis struck oil pumping stations in Saudi Arabia with drones. In a separate statement, he claimed further ballistic missile attacks on "enemy" forces and weapons depots in Yemen, naming the Salah al-Din area of Aden governorate and the al-Wahat area of Lahij governorate.

The war reignited in the summer when the Houthis announced a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia. Riyadh intervened in 2015 to lead a coalition aimed at restoring the government that the Houthis ousted from the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. A 2022 truce that had halted most fighting collapsed last month, when the Houthis launched a lightning offensive, seized much of Yemen's Red Sea coast from government forces and attacked Saudi energy facilities and airports. This month, government forces responded with a counteroffensive called "Operation Yemen Dawn," aimed at retaking Houthi-held territory.

As operations resumed at the Riyadh airport, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed air defence. His office said he "responded favourably to the kingdom's request to keep the Patriot system in Saudi Arabia, given the current challenging circumstances." Greece deployed the US-made battery in 2021, and it protects energy infrastructure in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast.

On Sunday, the coalition said its air defences intercepted at least 10 ballistic missiles. The kingdom's civil defence agency reported that two people were injured in the south by falling debris, along with damage to several buildings and vehicles. Images from the official Saudi press agency showed a building with part of its upper facade destroyed, exposing metal rods, and large windows shattered with glass strewn across the pavement and part of the road.