SANAA/RIYADH, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi group said late Monday that it struck airports, an oil facility and military sites across Saudi Arabia with missiles and drones, while the Saudi-led coalition said it foiled a Houthi plot targeting southern Red Sea waterways.
In a statement broadcast by the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the group launched three operations on Saudi soil, the first targeting King Khalid International Airport in the capital Riyadh.
The second targeted an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, a Red Sea coastal city in western Saudi Arabia, he said, claiming that the attack caused a fire.
The third struck Abha International Airport, King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait, the Aqifa military camp in the southwestern Asir region, as well as other "vital sites" in Najran and Jazan, he added.
There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities, and the reported damage could not be independently verified.
Sarea said the operations were in response to "60 Saudi air and missile strikes over the past 24 hours" targeting Houthi-held areas in Yemen.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognized government said that its naval forces had foiled a "plot for imminent attacks" targeting waterways in southern Red Sea during an operation in Yemen's western province of Hodeidah.
Coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki said on the social media platform X that the operation destroyed Houthi military targets, as well as weapons depots and storage facilities for explosive-laden boats and naval mines.
He said the operation was part of the coalition's efforts to safeguard maritime navigation in the Bab al-Mandab.
The Houthi group announced a maritime ban on Saudi shipping in July and has since launched strikes on Saudi tankers and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
The latest developments came amid an escalation in clashes between the Houthi group and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces across southwestern Yemen.
Yemen's conflict began in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led military intervention in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government in 2015. The recent clashes marked the sharpest escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities in the war-torn country. ■
