Explosions Rock Riyadh After Saudi Strike Kills 12, Houthis Say

Fresh bloodshed in Yemen and a night of blasts in Riyadh underscored how quickly the conflict has flared again after a long truce collapsed, with the Iran-backed Houthis accusing Saudi Arabia of striking residential neighbourhoods in the country’s west.

The Houthis and the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government have traded attacks on a near-daily basis since a years-long ceasefire unravelled over the summer, fuelling a widening cycle of retaliation across borders.

In the Saudi capital, reporters heard at least eight explosions as authorities issued a phone alert warning residents the city was “under a hostile aerial threat”.

Saudi civil defence also warned of “potential danger” in Riyadh, Kharj and the southern city of Najran, alerts that were lifted a short time later.

The Houthis have sharply escalated attacks on Saudi Arabia, including deadly strikes on the Riyadh airport that forced it to close for two weeks and led to the cancellation of flagship events — a disruption that threatens the kingdom’s economic diversification plans.

Smoke rising after a missile targeted the airport in Aden

Since hostilities resumed, more than 1,600 people have been killed across Yemen and more than 275,000 have been displaced, according to United Nations figures.

“As an initial toll, 12 citizens were killed and three others were critically injured,” the Houthi health ministry said in a statement today carried by the group’s Saba news agency.

The group said yesterday that Saudi strikes killed at least 14 people at a petrol station and market, while Houthi forces also targeted the airport in the government stronghold of Aden, wounding civilians.

The current surge in violence follows the collapse in July of a fragile 2022 truce, which broke down after the Houthis permitted an Iranian plane to land in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in defiance of Saudi control over Yemeni airspace — a move that was followed by a spate of attacks.

Afterwards, the Houthis announced a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began striking its ships, territory and oil facilities, before seizing Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning campaign.

The Houthis have also repeatedly reported Saudi airstrikes in response.

Yemen has been engulfed in war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to enter the conflict a year later in support of the government.