Saudi Arabia: Houthi Attacks Wound 73 Civilians and Hit Energy Sites

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audi Arabia says attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have struck civilian and economic targets in the kingdom, leaving at least 73 civilians wounded, including women and children, as fighting intensifies across Yemen between the Iran-backed group and the Saudi-supported internationally recognized government.

Major-General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, said on Tuesday that Houthi attacks had targeted civilian and economic sites in the southern Saudi provinces of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jizan and Najran.

Al-Maliki did not specify when the attacks took place, but described them as a “dangerous escalation” and a “blatant violation” of Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty. He said the attacks represented a direct threat to Saudi citizens and residents and pledged that the coalition would take “all necessary operational measures” to confront the attacks and target the sources of the threat.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy separately said several energy-sector facilities and installations in southern parts of the country were hit early on Tuesday. The ministry said the attacks wounded a number of citizens and residents and caused fires at several locations.

Some operations were temporarily halted as a result of the damage, although the ministry did not provide further details about the facilities affected or the scale of the disruption.

The attacks mark a sharp escalation in hostilities between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, who have been engaged in a conflict with Yemen’s government and its regional supporters for more than a decade.

Houthis cite Saudi strikes as retaliation

The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they were carried out in response to more than 120 Saudi strikes against Yemen over the previous three days.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Yemeni armed forces had conducted a large-scale, long-range operation involving dozens of ballistic missiles and drones. The group has increasingly targeted Saudi territory as fighting on the ground intensifies inside Yemen.

The Houthis had also accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an air strike on a prison in Yemen’s northern al-Jawf governorate. The group said at least seven people were killed in the attack on a prison in al-Hazm and warned that what it called continued Saudi “aggression” would not go unanswered.

Saudi authorities have not commented on that allegation.

The latest exchange of attacks comes as Saudi-backed government forces mount a counteroffensive aimed at retaking territory from the Houthis and ultimately advancing towards the capital, Sanaa.

Yemen has been trapped in a prolonged conflict since the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia and its allies to intervene militarily the following year in support of the internationally recognized government.

Although fighting largely subsided following a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022, the relative calm has since broken down. The latest escalation follows the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in February, according to the source report.

The Houthis resumed attacks towards Saudi Arabia in July, launching missiles and drones at Abha international airport after an attack on Sanaa airport. Later that month, the group announced a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia and began targeting Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea.

The renewed fighting has expanded the conflict beyond isolated exchanges of fire, raising concerns about wider regional instability and threats to vital transport and energy infrastructure.

Yemen fighting spreads as humanitarian crisis deepens

On Thursday, the Houthis launched a major ground offensive seeking to advance through western Taiz and southern Hodeidah towards al-Makha, also known as Mocha, a strategically important port city on the Red Sea near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The fighting was initially concentrated west of Taiz and south of Hodeidah but has since spread to several other provinces, including al-Dhalea, Marib, al-Jawf and al-Bayda.

Government forces are seeking to stretch Houthi military resources by opening additional fronts and increasing pressure on the group. The expansion of the fighting has added to concerns over the security of areas already affected by years of war.

The humanitarian consequences have been severe. The World Health Organization said about 1,078 people had been killed or wounded since August 24, while more than 21,000 people had been displaced since Thursday.

The latest displacement comes on top of years of humanitarian hardship in Yemen, where millions of people have been affected by conflict, economic instability and limited access to essential services.

The renewed violence also threatens to undermine efforts to contain the conflict after the relative calm that followed the 2022 truce. With fighting now occurring across multiple Yemeni provinces and attacks reaching Saudi civilian and energy infrastructure, the conflict is increasingly taking on a regional dimension.

Saudi officials have vowed to respond to the Houthi attacks, while the Houthis say their operations are retaliation for Saudi military action in Yemen. The cycle of attacks raises the prospect of further escalation unless the opposing sides find a way to halt the latest round of hostilities.

For Saudi Arabia, the attacks pose both a security and economic challenge, particularly as energy facilities in the kingdom’s south have been affected. For Yemen, the renewed fighting threatens to deepen displacement and casualties in a country already devastated by years of conflict.

The latest escalation therefore represents a serious setback to hopes of a sustained reduction in violence, with civilians on both sides increasingly exposed to the consequences of the widening confrontation.

(Source: Aljazeera English)