The latest:
Air raid sirens sounded twice overnight in Riyadh, followed by explosions in several parts of the Saudi capital and a fire near King Khalid International Airport, one of the Middle East’s busiest. Saudi civil defense later said the danger had passed, with no damage or injuries recorded. It was the first such alert in the capital since the Houthis’ major advance in Yemen.
Details:
- The fire: Reuters published video showing smoke rising with airport facilities in the background, and said flames were visible near fuel storage depots. Two witnesses told Agence France-Presse they saw black smoke and flames in the airport area. Saudi authorities announced no damage and no casualties.
- Houthi claim: Senior Houthi figure Hazem al-Assad shared on X a Sky News Arabia report saying the burning facility was an Aramco fuel depot. He claimed the Saudi enemy had gone as far as playing with fire against the Yemeni people, citing blockade and aggression, and warned the worst had not yet come.
- The timeline: The first siren sounded around 3:00 a.m. Saudi time and the second around 5:25 a.m., extending to neighboring Kharj province. Shortly before 1:00 a.m., sirens sounded in Farasan, with further warnings overnight in Yanbu, Taif, Jeddah, Khamis Mushait, AlUla, Jazan and Abha.
- The oil angle: Yanbu, on the Red Sea, hosts a major oil export terminal Riyadh uses to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where tanker traffic remains limited. The East-West pipeline feeding Yanbu was attacked last week and shut down. Iran-aligned Iraqi militias deny involvement; President Donald Trump blamed Iran directly. Reuters said the kingdom partially compensated by transferring crude between vessels off Oman’s port of Sohar.
- The air war: Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Saudi F-15 jets flying from Khamis Mushait base carried out 26 strikes on Taiz province in 24 hours, and claimed roughly 300 Saudi attacks across Yemen since the start of the week. Khamis Mushait was among the areas where sirens sounded overnight.
- Interceptor shortage: The Associated Press reported this week that Saudi stocks of interceptor missiles are running low and that Riyadh has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for air defense assistance. The report said depleted American stockpiles, drained by the war with Iran, pushed the kingdom toward other allies.
- Washington channel: Reuters reported that US officials met Houthi representatives Sunday at the American embassy in Muscat, a meeting never officially announced but confirmed by three sources. The Houthis said they would honor their 2025 ceasefire with Washington and avoid US shipping. One Yemeni official said they also excluded Israeli and commercial vessels, but not Saudi ones.
- The Mecca dispute: Riyadh said the Houthis launched a drone toward Mecca this week, roughly 1,100 kilometers from the Yemeni border, and called it a crossing of a red line despite intercepting it. The Houthis flatly denied the launch, and protests against Saudi Arabia were held in Yemen over the accusation.
- Humanitarian toll: Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that fighting has intensified on several fronts with rapid shifts in territorial control, especially along the western coast. More than 112,000 people have been displaced since the start of the month, with emergency medical aid arriving in Sanaa.
Background:
The Houthis recently seized Yemen’s strategic Red Sea coastline, defeating Saudi-backed government forces and giving them effective control over the Bab al-Mandab strait, one of the world’s most important shipping corridors.
Between the lines:
Two signals sit side by side. The Muscat meeting suggests the Houthis are carving out American and commercial shipping while explicitly reserving Saudi vessels as targets. The interceptor shortage reported by the Associated Press explains why Riyadh is soliciting four additional governments for air defense at the same moment sirens reached its capital and its second-largest export terminal.
What’s next
Watch whether France, Britain, Pakistan or Egypt respond publicly to Riyadh’s air defense request, whether the East-West pipeline to Yanbu restarts, and whether Aramco confirms damage at the Riyadh fuel depot.
