Yemen’s Houthis claim strikes on ‘sensitive sites' in Saudi Arabia
A Houthi spokesman on Saturday said the Yemeni militia launched missile and drone strikes on "sensitive sites" in Saudi Arabia, including the kingdom's port city of Yanbu and the capital Riyadh. The statement came hours after residents and journalists said they saw a thick plume of black smoke and flames rising from the area near the Riyadh King Khalid International Airport.
Yemen's Houthis said on Saturday that they launched strikes targeting "sensitive sites" in Saudi Arabia's Riyadh and oil facilities in the kingdom's port city of Yanbu, hours after residents reported blasts in the Saudi capital.
"In response to the Saudi enemy's criminal attempts to target the capital Sana'a... the Yemeni Armed Forces carried out two successful military operations using a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said, in a statement on Telegram.
"The first targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and the second targeted Aramco facilities in Yanbu."
The Houthi statement came after firefighters extinguished a blaze on a fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil giant Aramco at a fuel depot near Riyadh's international airport on Saturday, according to an AFP journalist.
Two residents of the Saudi capital said they saw black smoke and flames emanating from the area near the Riyadh King Khalid International Airport, while other people in the city reported hearing explosions.
"In the direction of the airport we saw black smoke and fire," one of the residents told AFP.
Meanwhile aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 reported major issues at the airport, including cancellations and delays.
The Riyadh King Khalid International Airport was listed under the site's maximum disruption index of 5.0, meaning the airport was seeing "major problems with long delays and several cancelled flights".
The disruption followed an overnight air raid alert issued by Saudi authorities.
Hours after the early morning alert, residents told AFP on condition of anonymity that they heard what sounded like another round of explosions echoing through parts of the Saudi capital.
The alert in Riyadh was the first for the Saudi capital since the latest escalation with Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Yemen's Houthis have staged a lightning offensive this month, seizing swathes of territory in one of the world's poorest countries, leaving the internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, scrambling to respond.
Saudi Arabia itself, one of the region's powerhouses, has conducted scores of air strikes on Houthi-held areas but failed to stop the advance. It has also sought help from its ally the US, that has not materialised.
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'Terrifying'
A Riyadh resident on Saturday described the attack as "terrifying".
"I was extremely anxious – especially because, unlike previous times, the 'all-clear' signal didn't come right away," the central Riyadh resident said.
"I heard the alarm, then my windows shook," said another Riyadh resident, 27, living in the city's north. "It was definitely scary. I was not expecting this."
Saudi Arabia has not commented on the threat mentioned in the warnings sent overnight to residents of several regions and has not identified where it originated from.
The incident comes days after Riyadh accused the Houthis of targeting Mecca on Wednesday, denouncing it as a "cowardly terrorist attack" on Islam's holy city, which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year, both Sunnis and Shias.
The Iran-backed Houthis strongly denied the accusation, calling it a "worn-out lie".
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The group has reported scores of retaliatory strikes carried out daily by Riyadh since their offensive this month to take over the country's entire Red Sea coast, giving them control over the vital Bab al-Mandab strait.
Riyadh was targeted with waves of attacks during an earlier period of the war, including a drone strike on the US embassy in the capital's diplomatic quarter in March.
While the US, according to news platform Axios, last week refused a Saudi request to strike the Houthis, Washington on Thursday approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to the kingdom to help Riyadh "deter current and future threats", the US State Department said.
Reduced Saudi exports
The United Nations said on Friday that the renewed fighting had displaced more than 112,000 people while nearly 3,000 others had fled across the sea to Djibouti.
War in Yemen broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa and other regions, triggering a military intervention led by Saudi Arabia in March 2015.
The fragile truce reached in 2022 between the warring parties collapsed in July, when the Houthis defied Riyadh's control of Yemeni airspace by allowing an Iranian aircraft to land in Yemen.
Their recent takeover of the coastline has sparked global concern, with international maritime trade already impacted by Iran's imposition of a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz since the Middle East war erupted in late February.
The Houthis insist there is no threat to shipping in the sea lane – except for ships from Saudi Arabia, the world's leading crude exporter.
The attack targeting Riyadh came as the Houthis improve their defences in newly conquered territory along Yemen's Red Sea coastline, with members of the group telling AFP they have been installing radar and digging tunnels.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
More than 112,000 displaced in Yemen as Houthis seize more ground
France24
Pro-Houthi demonstrations erupted in Yemen after Saudi Arabia accused the military group of targeting the Muslim holy site of Mecca.
Story by Elitsa Gadeva.
US approves $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 warplanes to Saudi Arabia
The United States on Thursday said it had approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 stealth warplanes to Saudi Arabia. Israel has previously voiced concerns about Riyadh buying F-35s, despite a push to normalise relations.
The United States has approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 stealth warplanes to Saudi Arabia, the State Department said Thursday, the kingdom's latest major arms purchase since the start of the Iran war.
Saudi Arabia has long sought to buy F-35s, but officials from Israel – currently the only country in the Middle East to operate the jets – have voiced concern about their sale to Riyadh despite a push for the kingdom to normalise relations.
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"The proposed sale will improve Saudi Arabia's capability to deter current and future threats by strengthening its homeland defence, and improving interoperability with US forces," the State Department said in a statement.
It "will also augment Saudi Arabia's operational aircraft and enhance its air-to-air, and air-to-ground self-defence capability", the statement said.
The Saudi embassy in Washington praised the transaction, saying it "reflects the strength and enduring nature" of the relationship with the United States.
It added that the security cooperation between the two countries "has contributed to regional stability, strengthened our collective defence capabilities, and advanced our shared security interests".
Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly targeted with drone and missile strikes by Tehran's forces since the United States and Israel launched their war against Iran in February, and has also been hit by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Yemen's civil war had been dormant for years, but fighting between Houthis and the internationally recognised, Riyadh-backed government reignited in July, with the rebels declaring a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and targeting its ships in the Red Sea.
Washington has not directly entered the conflict, but a US official said earlier this week that an American military task force is working to enhance intelligence sharing and planning assistance for Saudi forces.
Congressional approval pending
The State Department has notified Congress about the proposed sale, which would require the approval of US lawmakers. It did not provide a time frame for the delivery of the jets.
The F-35 sale "will not alter the military balance in the region", the State Department said, in keeping with longstanding US policy that Israel must have a military edge over potential regional adversaries.
The United States has so far only allowed the sales of F-35s to its closest allies, including a number of European NATO allies and Israel.
Washington kicked NATO member Turkey out of the F-35 programme in 2019 because Ankara's purchase of a Russian air defence system sparked fears that Moscow could acquire the plane's technology.
Billions in arms sales
Washington also has concerns about potential Chinese espionage related to the jets.
The New York Times reported this week that US intelligence analysts have raised the possibility that Beijing could acquire F-35 technology through its partnerships with Riyadh.
US Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, expressed opposition to the sale on those grounds.
It should not go ahead "when our own intelligence community is warning that it could put the crown jewels of American military technology within reach of the Chinese Communist Party", Krishnamoorthi said in a statement.
The F-35 sale is the latest in a series of major arms buys by Saudi Arabia this year.
The State Department announced the approval of a $5 billion sale of more than 10,000 bombs – including highly destructive 2,000-pound weapons – to Riyadh earlier in September.
Washington also signed off on the sale of 60 tank engines and related equipment to Saudi Arabia at a cost of $750 million this month, and a $1.96 billion deal in July for the kingdom to buy guidance sections that can convert rockets into precision weapons.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
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