Houthis fire missiles at Riyadh, Taif and Yanbu as Saudi alerts sound over Makkah and Jeddah

Yemen’s Houthis fired ballistic missiles at three Saudi cities on Saturday, setting off air raid alerts from the capital to the Red Sea coast and, for a few minutes around midday, over the holy city of Makkah.

The first warning came shortly after 4 am, when Saudi Civil Defence sounded its early warning system for Riyadh, Najran and Wadi Al-Dawasir. Two loud blasts were heard in the capital minutes later. Brigadier General Turki Al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, said on X that “air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia towards Riyadh.” In an earlier post he said “a drone was intercepted and destroyed in the Eastern Province.”

Alerts over the holy cities

Late in the morning the civil defence agency sent “potential danger” alerts to four western provinces: Makkah, Jeddah, Taif and Yanbu. It gave no reason. Residents were told to “proceed to the nearest safe place”, and the agency repeated its legal warning against sharing pictures or information about the interception of missiles and drones. The alerts were withdrawn within minutes.

Soon afterwards the coalition said it had destroyed two Houthi ballistic missiles aimed at Taif and Yanbu. The all-clear for the four provinces followed about ten minutes later. There was no word of casualties or damage from any of Saturday’s attacks.

The strikes came a day after the coalition said it had shot down two missiles aimed at Riyadh and Khamis Mushait and two drones heading for the kingdom’s south. It also dismissed Houthi claims that Saudi forces had targeted tribal gatherings as “false allegations with no basis in fact.”

A war that has moved north

Saudi Arabia has come under repeated attack since a four-year truce in Yemen broke down in July. The deadliest so far was the missile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on 10 October, which killed 13 people. One of the dead was Mohammed Yusuf Ali, a man from Hyderabad, and 11 Indians were among the injured.

India’s embassy in Riyadh has since told Indians in the kingdom to shelter indoors during alerts, keep away from windows and, if driving, stop away from bridges and tall buildings. The advice gives 911 as the emergency number in Riyadh, Makkah, Madinah and the Eastern Province, and 998 elsewhere.

The attacks also unfold against the wider standoff with Iran, which backs the Houthis. On Saturday Iran’s armed forces chief, Major General Ali Abdollahi, said US warships would not be allowed into the Gulf “under any circumstances”. On Friday, foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan meeting in Istanbul condemned the Houthis’ “unacceptable escalation” and urged them to return to the political process.