Saudi Arabia issued an air raid alert for Riyadh for the first time as attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels intensified.
Saudi Arabia's civil defense authority issued air raid alerts for Riyadh and several other areas from the night of the 18th through the morning of the 19th, according to reports by the BBC and other outlets. It was the first such alert for Riyadh since the Houthis stepped up their attacks in July and declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia.
There were multiple reports of explosions heard in Riyadh. The alerts were later lifted, and authorities said the danger had passed.
The Houthis have widened their offensive, seizing the port of Mokha, a key stronghold in western Yemen, and then taking Perim Island in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the entrance to the Red Sea. As the group intensifies strikes on Saudi territory, attack threat alerts have been issued in succession for the Islamic holy city of Mecca, the country's second-largest city of Jeddah and now the capital, Riyadh.
The Houthis also carried out large-scale missile and drone attacks targeting Aramco oil facilities in Yanbu and the Khamis Mushait air base.
Saudi Arabia responded with successive airstrikes on rebel positions and communications facilities in Yemen's Taiz and Hajjah provinces. Signs have also emerged that Saudi Arabia has used Chinese-made ballistic missiles in combat against the Houthis, with the armed clashes between the two sides escalating.
The Houthis claimed on the 16th that they had shot down a Saudi F-15 fighter jet with a surface-to-air missile over Yemen's Marib province, releasing video they said showed the incident. As the fighting intensifies, concerns are growing that Yemen's civil war — relatively quiet since a 2022 truce agreement — could escalate into all-out war.
