Members of the Houthi security forces during a military parade in Sanaa, on Sep. 20, 2026. (Credit: Mohammed Huwais / AFP)
Iran-backed Houthi fighters in Yemen launched new attacks against Saudi Arabia on Saturday, targeting the capital Riyadh and a major city in the southwest, as calls to end the conflict grow.
’’Air defenses intercepted and destroyed two drones launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward the Riyadh region,’’ the coalition spokesperson said on X. The spokesperson also announced the interception of two ballistic missiles fired toward Khamis Mushait, a southwestern Saudi city that is home to a major air base.
The Houthis confirmed they attacked the kingdom.
’’Despite the force, scope and impact of the operation, our armed forces consider it only a small-scale rehearsal in preparation for a large-scale escalation,’’ Hazem el-Assad, a member of the movement’s political bureau, wrote on X.
After several years of calm, Yemen plunged back into war in July, opening a new front in the wider Middle East conflict. The fighting pits the Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, against the internationally recognized government, which is based in Aden in the south and controls much of the south and east, a larger but less populated area.
The conflict intensified in September when anti-government fighters launched a deadly offensive, consolidating their control over the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and is a key route between Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal. They also imposed a blockade on the Saudi fleet and targeted the kingdom’s oil infrastructure, Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude exporter, as well as its capital Riyadh, for the first time in years.
UN condemnation
Despite daily Saudi airstrikes and ongoing ground fighting, government forces and Riyadh have failed to push back the Houthis, and their calls for international aid have so far gone unanswered.
The head of Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad al-Alimi, called Friday for ‘‘general mobilization’’ and promised amnesty to Houthis who join the government’s camp. U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with al-Alimi a few days ago but did not promise military support, according to the Yemeni official’s entourage.
According to The New York Times, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, has also urged Trump to intervene and strike the Houthis. So far, his appeals have gone unanswered.
The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, on Saturday denounced ‘‘a dangerous escalation and a direct threat to regional security’’ and called on ‘‘the international community to adopt a firm stance to end these repeated Houthi terrorist attacks.’’
Turkey and Pakistan, which are bound by mutual defense agreements with Riyadh, have so far not responded to the Houthi offensive, although the chiefs of staff of the three countries met Friday.
Also Friday, the U.N. Security Council condemned ‘‘in the strongest terms’’ the Houthi offensive against Saudi Arabia and called for ‘‘concrete cooperation, particularly with the Yemeni government, to prevent the Houthis from acquiring weapons and related materiel, technical assistance, training and financing’’ that enable their operations.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti, Saleh al-Fawzan, called on soldiers to ‘‘stand ready to fulfill their duty’’ and prayed to God to ‘‘eradicate the Houthi group and its supporters.’’
