The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government has dismissed as “misleading” claims by the Iran-aligned Houthi group that it attacked Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh.
Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said the Houthis were attempting to divert attention from the losses they were suffering amid escalating fighting in Yemen.
The Houthis had claimed that they launched ballistic missile and drone attacks on an Aramco oil facility near Riyadh, saying the assault caused large fires.
The claims came as fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces intensified. Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili, spokesman for the internationally recognised Yemeni government forces, said their forces carried out 257 precision operations against Houthi positions and military capabilities on Saturday.
According to al-Nazili, preliminary estimates indicated that at least 700 Houthi fighters were killed in the operations.
Al-Maliki also said the Houthis’ “ties to external agendas” had contributed to instability and destruction in Yemen, adding that their battlefield losses were driving them to seek what he described as “illusory victories.”
On Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said its forces conducted 97 “precise targeting operations” against Houthi reinforcements along the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis. The operations reportedly involved warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers.
The conflict between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government has intensified since a fragile truce collapsed in July. The renewed fighting has displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
In September, the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and strategic islands near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a major maritime route for global oil shipments, before anti-Houthi forces stabilised the front lines.
Yemen’s war began in 2014 after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the internationally recognised government to relocate to Aden.
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