Yemen’s Houthis accused Saudi Arabia of launching dozens of strikes on Sanaa on Saturday, while witnesses and an AFP journalist in Riyadh reported seeing flames and smoke coming from an oil facility on the outskirts of the Saudi capital.
Though Saudi officials and the Houthis have not yet commented on the refinery fire, the Iran-backed group has in recent weeks launched attacks on oil facilities in the kingdom as part of the war in Yemen where Riyadh backs the internationally recognised government.
The foes have traded strikes since the Houthis seized all of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Mandab strait in a lightning offensive.
Houthi-affiliated channel Al-Masirah TV reported that “Saudi enemy aircraft” hit Sanaa with 26 strikes, after earlier reporting “Saudi aggression” against the Yemeni capital, without providing details on the targets or casualties.
Two correspondents in Sanaa reported hearing loud explosions and seeing warplanes firing missiles on the city.
In neighbouring Saudi Arabia, flames and smoke were seen rising on Saturday afternoon from a facility belonging to state-owned oil giant Aramco south of Riyadh, an AFP journalist said, although both the Houthis and Saudi authorities had yet to comment.
The circumstances remained unclear, though the Houthis have claimed several attacks on facilities belonging to Aramco, majority-owned by the Saudi state, in recent months.
Read moreSaudi-led coalition accuses Houthis of striking Medina power station
The journalist reported seeing firefighters attempting to extinguish a blaze at the energy giant’s Riyadh refinery, located south of the capital, while ambulances and police vehicles were stationed near the facility.
The Houthis Al-Masirah channel earlier on Saturday also reported missile strikes on the telecommunications network in Yemen’s northwestern governorate of Saada, one of the group’s strongholds.
It comes after the Houthis said that Saudi Arabia bombed the Yemeni capital itself on Thursday night for the first time since renewed fighting broke out between the two sides in July.
Hunger warning
After several years of calm, Yemen was plunged back into civil war that month, pitting the Iran-backed Houthis, who control most of northwest Yemen including Sanaa, against Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
The government, based in the city of Aden, controls much of the country’s south and east — a region that is larger but much less populated.
Hostilities were reignited after four years of a fragile truce when Iran sent a plane to Sanaa carrying a Houthi delegation.
The flight did not seek authorisation from Saudi Arabia, contravening a practice in place for a decade.
Riyadh retaliated with strikes on Sanaa airport, and in response the Houthis attacked Saudi territory for the first time since 2022.
Since then, fighting has intensified with the Houthis launching a lightning offensive in which they seized control of coastal regions along the Bab al-Mandab strait.
They have also struck multiple Saudi targets including oil infrastructure and the capital Riyadh while also announcing a naval blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.
The renewed fighting has worsened the already appalling humanitarian conditions in Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, with the World Food Programme warning on Friday that three-quarters of the population was unable to meet its basic food needs.
Battle for Taiz
Fighting in recent days has centred on Taiz, where dozens of combatants were reported killed on Friday by sources on both sides.
The Houthis reported 55 of their fighters had been killed while government sources told AFP that 26 troops had died.
The battle for Taiz is taking place on several fronts, including highlands overlooking coastal areas recently seized by the Houthis.
While the Houthis have conquered swathes of territory, they have yet to wrest control of Taiz city, which is Yemen’s third-largest after Sanaa and Aden.
The Houthis also on Friday said Saudi Arabia had launched 94 strikes against areas under their control in the past 24 hours.
Saudi authorities meanwhile reported a Houthi projectile had damaged a school in the city of Najran near the Yemen border.
Riyadh has reportedly requested help from the United States, a call so far rebuffed by US President Donald Trump.
On Saturday US media outlet Axios reported that top cabinet members in the Trump administration met the day before to discuss Yemen as well as the Iran conflict, citing three US officials.
The meeting was not officially announced.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
