Houthis Claim Missile and Drone Strikes on Riyadh Airport and Aramco's Rabigh Refinery as Saudi Offensive Intensifies

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis said late on Monday that they had struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, a Saudi Aramco refinery in Rabigh and several other targets across Saudi Arabia, hours after warning airlines away from Saudi skies.

There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the attacks, Reuters reported.

What the Houthis claim

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group carried out three military operations in Saudi Arabia, according to Reuters. The claimed targets included the Riyadh airport, the Aramco refinery in Rabigh, Abha international airport and the Khamis Mushait military base.

According to CBS News, the statement said drones, ballistic missiles and cruise missiles were used, and that the strikes were a response to the Saudi-led coalition's attacks on Houthi military targets earlier on Monday.

"In response to the Saudi aggression against our country in the past 24 hours ... the Yemeni armed forces targeted King Khaled Airport in Riyadh," the spokesman said, as quoted by Middle East Eye. The group claimed the strike disrupted air traffic at the airport. The Candor Post could not independently verify the claims.

Explosions in Riyadh and a warning to airlines

Loud explosions rattled Riyadh on Monday evening as the fighting escalated, AFP reported. The US Mission in Saudi Arabia urged American citizens to remain vigilant and follow alerts issued by Saudi Civil Defense, Gulf News reported.

The Houthi statement also warned "all global airlines using Saudi airspace against continuing their flights," CBS News reported, with the exception of airspace over Mecca and Medina.

A widening war in Yemen

The claims came on the same day Saudi Arabia and Yemen's internationally recognised government stepped up a major counteroffensive against the Houthis. The coalition said 100 warplanes flew sorties at dawn, while Yemen's military said it had launched more than 1,000 strikes and begun an offensive on the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa.

Pakistan and Turkey have also pledged a "rapid deployment" of forces to Saudi Arabia under their new mutual defence pact. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting," his spokesman said, and condemned "the continued Houthi cross-border attacks" on Saudi Arabia.

Pressure on oil supplies

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted Saudi energy infrastructure since a 2022 ceasefire in Yemen collapsed in July amid the wider US-Iran war. A Saudi energy-sector source told AFP that a strike on Sunday had again halted pumping on the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, though Reuters, citing a separate source, reported that oil was still flowing.

Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday that global stockpiles were already stretched. "The system is already straining," he said.