Saudi Official Vows Firm Response After Houthi Missile and Drone Strikes Target Airports

The Houthis have not yet issued a response.

On Sunday evening, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea announced in a video statement that his forces fired missiles and drones at Riyadh and Dammam airports, as well as two oil and gas installations in the Eastern Province, citing 124 Saudi airstrikes in Yemen over the past day as justification.

Sarea further warned airlines and passengers to avoid Saudi airports and airspace, with the exception of flights to and from the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.

He vowed that Houthi forces would keep escalating operations deep within Saudi Arabia, maintaining a ‘blockade for a blockade, an escalation for an escalation’ approach and striking Saudi reinforcements until hostilities end and the siege on Yemeni civilians is lifted.

The Saturday strike on Riyadh airport provoked broad international condemnation.

UN Secretary‑General António Guterres said he was ‘deeply shocked’ and warned that targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure breaches international law.

President Donald Trump said he would decide whether the United States would join Saudi Arabia’s strikes against the Houthis, noting that the U.S. military is already allegedly supplying intelligence and targeting assistance to the Saudi‑led coalition.

Iran, which has repeatedly denied accusations of supplying weapons or training to the Houthis, said it was ‘deeply concerned’ by the escalation and urged dialogue and engagement to defuse the crisis.

Yemen has lain in ruins since a civil war erupted in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and forced the government into exile. The conflict widened in 2015 after a Saudi‑led coalition intervened to reinstate the internationally recognized administration.

An informal ceasefire that had held for four years started to fray in July, when the Houthis declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia and launched missile and drone strikes against Saudi airports, oil installations, and tankers in the Red Sea.

The Houthis said the attacks were retaliation for what they describe as a Saudi blockade of Yemeni ports and airports, and for an airstrike on Sanaa airport that they attribute to the kingdom. The Yemeni government countered that it carried out the Sanaa strike to block an unauthorized Iranian aircraft from landing.

Last month, the Houthis mounted a surprise offensive along Yemen’s southwestern Red Sea coastline, displacing pro‑government forces from positions overlooking the Bab al‑Mandab Strait.

They asserted that their actions do not endanger international shipping transiting the waterway, but vowed to keep targeting ships bound for Saudi Arabia.

Nevertheless, the Houthi seizure of the strait helped push global oil prices higher, as Saudi Arabia had been using the Red Sea for crude exports after the U.S.–Israel conflict with Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

Last week, the Yemeni government unveiled a new offensive intended to reclaim all territory currently under Houthi control.

Pro‑government forces claimed they swiftly recaptured areas around Bab al‑Mandab backed by intense Saudi airstrikes, while the Houthis insisted they had not lost any ground.

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