Latest. The Houthis said on Friday that they had fired two ballistic missiles at a Saudi military troop assembly site in Jazan Province in southwestern Saudi Arabia, Yonhap News Agency reported. Jazan hosts a Saudi Aramco refinery able to refine 400,000 barrels of crude a day. Yonhap said Saudi Arabia’s position and any actual damage had not been confirmed, and the claim follows the group’s attacks the previous day on the East-West pipeline and Aramco facilities, which remain unconfirmed in their effects.
Latest. The UN Security Council voted unanimously on Thursday to extend its Yemen sanctions for one more year, keeping asset freezes and travel bans in place, extending the mandate of the UN Panel of Experts on Yemen, and demanding an end to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, Al Jazeera reported. The resolution condemns the Houthis’ military escalation, their maritime and cross-border attacks and their threats to commercial shipping, and states that the sanctions do not apply to humanitarian assistance or supplies for basic civilian needs. China’s ambassador Fu Cong said the council’s sanctions are a means, not an end, and that he hoped the situation in Yemen would de-escalate soon. The UN humanitarian office said the same day that more than 333,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since the beginning of August, including more than 24,000 in the past week.
Latest. The day’s strikes widened on the Houthis’ own account. Coalition spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki said forces intercepted suspected Houthi drones over the Riyadh region and the Eastern Province, in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency. Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group also targeted a military cargo plane at Sharurah airport near the Yemeni border with a drone, fired a ballistic missile at Khamis Mushait airbase that he said scored a direct hit, and targeted Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Riyadh, claims Al Jazeera did not independently confirm and for which no damage or casualty figure was given. Saudi Arabia is also pressing the European Union to designate the Houthi movement a terrorist organisation, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the drive; European officials told Reuters the bloc is concerned that designation could undermine a future peace process.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday that they attacked a pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline and an oil facility in Yanbu, Reuters reported. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the statement, and the report gave no account of damage or of any effect on oil flows.
The claim follows a day of interceptions. Saudi air defences intercepted Houthi missiles and drones launched toward Riyadh, Mecca and other regions on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition said, destroying three cruise missiles headed for the Riyadh region, two drones aimed at Mecca and southern areas and two missiles pointed toward the west. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree denied targeting Mecca, saying the group’s operations target oil facilities and military bases, and said the Houthis had attacked a pumping station in Yanbu on Wednesday. Saudi civil defence issued danger alerts for Taif, Yanbu and Khamis Mushait on Wednesday and later announced the danger had passed.