A coordinated barrage of drone and missile strikes hit civilian neighborhoods and industrial infrastructure across four southern provinces in Saudi Arabia early Tuesday, injuring at least 73 people, including women and children. The assault ignited fires at several oil facilities and utilities, forcing operators to temporarily suspend activities while specialized teams worked to secure the sites and contain the blazes. The Saudi Ministry of Energy said that several energy sector facilities and installations in southern areas of the kingdom were hit early on Tuesday.
Civilian Casualties and Industrial Blazes Across Southern Cities
Major-General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen, detailed that the incoming projectiles targeted civilian and economic locations in the cities of Abha, Jazan, Najran, and Khamis Mushait. Al-Maliki said that the attacks wounded 73 people, including women and children, though he did not specify when the attacks took place and provided no further details. The southern region houses major oil facilities, including a 400,000-barrel-per-day oil refinery in Jazan, which is one of Saudi Arabia’s largest.
Rebel Claims and the Retaliatory Justification
The Houthi movement released a statement later on Tuesday, saying the attacks were in response to more than 120 strikes launched by Saudi Arabia on Yemen in the last three days. Military spokesman Yahya Saree said that Yemeni armed forces carried out a large-scale, long-range military operation using dozens of ballistic missiles and drones. The Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for the attacks but said they would issue a statement about a large-scale military operation deep inside Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, the group had accused Saudi Arabia of carrying out an air strike on a prison in al-Hazm, in the northern al-Jawf governorate, killing at least seven people. The Houthis stated that the ongoing Saudi aggression against Yemen will not go unpunished, while Riyadh has not commented on the allegation. Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office, appeared to welcome the strikes, saying Saudi Arabia should expect consequences for its military actions in Yemen.
“The Saudi enemy has to understand that the time for committing crimes and massacres against the Yemeni people without response, deterrence or paying a price has ended.”
Nasruddin Amer, deputy head of the Houthi media office
Military Escalation and Regional Trade Strains
The sudden resumption of cross-border missile exchanges comes after weeks of intensifying clashes between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen, bringing a four-year truce to an end. Fighting between the two sides largely halted after a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022. The accusation came on Tuesday as fighting intensified in Yemen, where the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised government has launched a counteroffensive to retake territory from the Iran-backed Houthis. Fighting has raged on multiple fronts including Yemen’s west coast, with government forces saying they have made territorial gains in the provinces of Hodeida, Taiz and Baydah.
Coalition Vows Retaliation as Global Shipping Fears Mount
Coalition officials condemned the latest drone and missile runs as a direct threat. Major-General Turki al-Maliki described the attacks as a dangerous escalation
and a blatant violation
of Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty, warning that they posed a direct threat to the kingdom’s citizens and residents. Al Maliki accused the Houthis of deliberately targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure, saying such actions constituted violations of international humanitarian law and international law. He said the coalition would take all necessary operational measures
to confront the attacks and act against the sources of the threat.
“The coalition will take all necessary operational measures to deter the terrorist Houthi militia with utmost resolve.”
Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition
The widening conflict deals a blow to global economic security. The flare-up delivered a new jolt to a region already destabilized by nearly three years of wars and brings more uncertainty for the global economy. The fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis threatens to squeeze shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb strait, a critical route of the Arabian Peninsula for oil and global trade. It also comes at a time when the Iran war has nearly halted shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway that moved about one-fifth of the world’s oil before the war.
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