Saudi coalition says shot down Houthi missile

The Saudi-led coalition said Wednesday it intercepted a ballistic missile fired by Yemen's Houthis at Saudi Arabia, as government forces backed by the kingdom battled to retake territory seized by the group in a lightning offensive.

The Iran-backed fighters claimed they struck several airports, including in Riyadh, while the Yemeni government's Saba news agency reported missiles and drones targeting Aden airport in Yemen.

The flurry of attacks came as the fighters denied being pushed back by government forces, after Yemen's military said Monday it had removed the group from the areas around the Bab al-Mandab strait, a Red Sea chokepoint, and the port city of Mocha.

Claims by both sides in Yemen have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation on the ground moving fast and access for journalists difficult.

After a four-year ceasefire, the Houthis -- who control most of northwest Yemen -- seized the entire western coastline along the Red Sea in the country's deadliest fighting in years.

The offensive reignited Yemen's long-running conflict, deepening the wider Middle East war which has roiled world energy markets and snarled trade routes.

Sources on both sides told AFP on Tuesday that fighting across the country had killed more than 270 government troops and Houthi fighters over the past day alone.

Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi coalition, said Wednesday that it had shot down a missile launched by the Houthis north of Riyadh.

"A ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia north of Riyadh was intercepted and destroyed," al-Maliki wrote on X.

It came as Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said that a drone attack on Riyadh international airport and missiles and drones targeting Abha airport and King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait had "hit their targets accurately".

It is the second time this week that the Houthis claim to have attacked King Khalid International Airport.

 

- 'War zone' -

 

While the airport is facing frequent temporary closures of its airspace, according to tracking website Flightradar24, Saudi authorities have not publicly acknowledged the closures or confirmed any strikes targeting the facility.

But on Tuesday, the civil aviation authority said at least three people were wounded in attacks on Jazan and Najran airports near the Yemen border a day earlier.  

Saudi Arabia, the main backer of the Yemeni government, has been providing air support for the counter-offensive launched by government forces.

Saree insisted earlier that the Houthis still held all territory seized last month when they swept through coastal areas along the Red Sea, a vital global shipping route.

Houthi fighters "have full control over all their advances on the ground", he posted on Telegram.

Saree said they had pushed back government forces "as they attempted to advance towards our forces' positions southwest of Al-Waziya", a strategic position to secure the Bab al-Mandab strait.

The Houthis' health ministry said Tuesday that a Saudi airstrike had killed six members of a family, including four children, in a village in Hajjah governorate.

Government forces claimed Monday that they had achieved "victories on several fronts".

But military sources with the government refrained from confirming Mocha's recapture, only saying they had cut the one supply route to the area.

They also said they expelled the Houthis from several areas in Taiz in the southwest, where fighting has surged in recent days.

Mohammed, a 33-year-old charity worker who fled from Mocha to Aden, said "people there are terrified".

"Life in Mocha has come to a complete standstill -- there is no movement at all. The city has become a war zone," he told AFP.

Government forces also reported advances in the southern part of the governorate of Marib.

Yemen's government has announced a goal of retaking all Houthi territory -- home to most of the country's population, and much of it held for more than a decade.

Pakistan and Turkey on Monday pledged to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a mutual defence pact.

burs-amj/cms/abs