Houthi missiles reportedly struck a number of targets in Yemen, including Aden’s airport and a coastguard base.
Houthi fighters have launched a series of attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia and the seat of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in Aden, while the fighting intensifies around the city of Taiz.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, the Yemeni government’s Ministry of Transport denounced what it described as the Houthis’ targeting of Aden international airport with two ballistic missiles, calling it the “fourth such attack this month”.
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The airport attacks pose “a threat to the safety of civil aviation” and have “humanitarian and economic repercussions for citizens” who rely on it, the ministry warned.
Yemeni authorities said the coastguard headquarters and a second building were also hit.
The Houthis claimed attacks on the al-Nasr camp and Aden’s naval military base.
Yemen’s army said a Houthi missile killed three people when it malfunctioned and fell on a family home in Houthi-held Sanaa on Friday. The army said it was one of several missile malfunctions seen in recent weeks by the Iran-backed group.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said on Saturday that Saudi-led coalition air attacks killed several civilians in the capital, Sanaa, and in the port city of Hodeidah. The claim could not be verified and Saudi Arabia has not commented on the alleged raids.
Saudi attacks
The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said on Sunday that it downed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
“Air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward Riyadh,” the coalition’s spokesperson said in a social media post.
On Saturday, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said on X the Houthis had launched two ballistic missiles towards Mecca and Medina, warning of “the fall of shrapnel” following their interception.
Images shared on X by the Saudi Press Agency appeared to show a large, blackened missile-shaped object that had landed somewhere in Saudi Arabia.
Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, described the Houthi attacks as “heinous” and said they embodied “a blatant disregard for the lives and security of civilians” in a statement shared on Saturday.
The Houthis said the claim that they targeted the two cities – the holiest in Islam – was a “huge lie”. They said their targets were three Saudi airports, oil infrastructure and an airbase.
The Houthis have persistently targeted Saudi energy infrastructure and airports across the country with long-range strikes since a fragile ceasefire agreed in 2022 fell apart in July.
Riyadh’s international airport said in a social media post on Saturday that flights would resume on Sunday after a two-week closure following Houthi strikes on the capital.
Shortly after the announcement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree issued a warning on X, saying the airport is still “unsafe” and remains a “military target”.
The Flightradar24 monitoring site showed a plane taking off from Riyadh airport early on Sunday, heading to the Saudi city of Jeddah.
Fighting rages
Intense fighting is continuing on Yemen’s front lines as the Houthis battle forces of the internationally recognised government for control of key areas.
On Saturday, Yemeni army spokesman Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili said government forces had carried out more than 700 “targeting operations” over the last 24 hours across Yemen, “neutralising” 300 Houthi fighters and disabling military vehicles.
Al Jazeera could not independently verify those figures.
Operations targeted field command centres, Houthi gatherings, weapons depots, and supply lines in Taiz, where intense clashes have been ongoing for days, the spokesman added.
The Houthis have been launching attacks on the western, eastern and southern fronts of Taiz, with attempts by Houthi fighters to break through and advance from the western front towards the city of Taiz in an effort to capture it, Al Jazeera correspondent Hadeel al-Yamani reported on Saturday.
Government forces, supported by fighters from the Popular Resistance group, have pushed back against Houthi attacks to break through from the eastern front.