Houthi forces claim six attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities

Iran-backed Houthi forces have claimed a total of six attacks on airports and oil facilities across Saudi Arabia despite a rare meeting of Saudi and Iranian senior officials in Tehran earlier this week after which the two sides agreed to resolve differences in the region through dialogue.

Saudi Arabia, Turkiye and Pakistan all sent high-level representatives to the meeting but despite the positive statements, Houthi forces continue to launch missiles and drones at the kingdom and Saudi-backed forces inside Yemen.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement posted on X that the attacks targeted vital commercial and military infrastructure which spanned Saudi Arabia from its east and west coasts to Riyadh and the southern region of Najran.

According to Saree’s statement, the Houthis targeted the Ras Tanura oil refinery with a ballistic missile, an Aramco facility in Abqaiq with a missile, King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with multiple missiles, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam with a drone, the Rabigh oil refinery with a ballistic missile and a Saudi military headquarters in the Najran region.

There was no independent corroboration of the group’s claims.

The ramped-up combat comes despite the week’s high-level diplomacy, which had been aimed at tamping down flaring regional tensions which have especially inflamed the cross-border fighting between Houthi forces and Saudi Arabia.

After Iran and Mecca defence alliance members Turkiye, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan concluded their meeting in Tehran on Monday, “participants agreed to continue discussions to strengthen cooperation between the four regional countries”, according to an official Iranian press release carried by the Fars news agency.

The meeting, hosted by Iran’s security chief Mohsen Rezaei and attended by Saudi Defence Minister Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan’s army chief Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, focused on “peace and security in the region”, the statement added.

For its part, the Saudi foreign ministry stressed “the importance of opening channels of negotiation to prevent a return to military escalation” following the meeting.

The announcement by the Houthi spokesman on Thursday came after the Saudi-led coalition said its air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by the Houthis towards the capital, according to coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki.

Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence said shrapnel from the interception wounded one Saudi citizen in Riyadh. Shrapnel also damaged a house and a vehicle, the agency’s spokesperson told the state-run news agency.

Warning alerts on incoming potential threats had been issued in Riyadh and al-Kharj governorates and in Najran city before those interceptions were announced.

Earlier on Thursday, the internationally recognised Yemeni government issued a statement that called on the UN Security Council to take “deterrent and punitive measures” to stop Houthi attacks on Aden International Airport.