The Houthis on Sunday said their forces launched several ballistic missiles and drones at oil facilities near Saudi Arabia’s capital, accelerating fears that the Yemen war and its consequences could spread beyond its borders.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the strikes successfully damaged sites in Riyadh and the Khurais oil field, which sits just east of the city. Photos and video from the sites show scattered fires at the facilities and large plumes of black smoke.
The Saudi government has not issued a formal response to the allegations. Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, the spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition forces, said in a statement to state-affiliated media that the Houthis’ account of the attack is “misleading.”
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The alleged attack is likely to further escalate the Yemen war, and there were signs that Saudi-backed government forces in the country were preparing for another offensive against Houthi strongholds on Sunday.
Yemen’s President Rashad al-Alimi announced the start of new military operations on Sunday to retake Houthi-held territory in the western part of the country. Reports indicated that fighting between Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis has intensified near the southwestern city of Taiz and that Yemeni forces have launched new air raids against targets in the area.
The spokesperson for the Yemeni forces, Col. Majid Abdullah al-Nuzaili, said government forces had struck “vital targets” and Houthi strongholds in Sanaa and Saada.
Houthi militants, supplied with weapons and equipment by Iran, have in recent weeks overtaken large swaths of territory in Yemen’s west, including strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The territorial expansion has shocked international observers and likely given the rebels more options for launching strikes into Saudi Arabia and on ships traveling in the Red Sea.
The Yemeni civil war, which began in 2014, has escalated since the start of the U.S.-Iran war earlier this year following years of relative quiet.
The latest escalation began in July when the Houthis declared a blockade against Saudi-linked ships traveling in the Red Sea in response to Riyadh’s alleged bombing of an airport in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital.
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