Saudi Arabia Downs Houthi Drones as Egypt Offers Defense

Saudi air defenses destroyed four drones over Riyadh, the Eastern Province and the South on Saturday, in the latest strikes of a renewed war with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, announced the interceptions on X. “We have intercepted and destroyed four drones over the past few hours in the regions of Riyadh, the Eastern Province, and the South,” he wrote.

Hours earlier, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Cairo stood ready to defend the kingdom if asked. Egypt belongs to the coalition, and Sisi made clear it wouldn’t stand aside while Saudi Arabia was harmed.

The Security Picture

The Houthis haven’t limited their attacks to military bases. Since Yemen’s conflict flared back to life in July after a years-long hiatus, the group has repeatedly struck Saudi oil installations, energy facilities, tankers and transit hubs. An attack on Riyadh’s airport last week killed 13 people.

The threat reaches beyond the Saudi heartland. Two missiles landed Friday inside the perimeter of the airport in Aden, the interim capital of the Saudi-backed government. The Houthis claimed responsibility, saying they targeted “the Saudi forces’ command headquarters in the Badr camp in Aden province” and a weapons depot.

Sea lanes face pressure, too. The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations reported that the captain of an LNG tanker, 140 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s Al Mukalla, said a small skiff carrying seven people approached and fired two shots. The tanker’s armed security team fired two warning shots, and the skiff changed course. Separately, an “unknown projectile” struck a tanker Friday, 68 nautical miles off Jubail on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast, forcing its crew to evacuate. “All crew are reported safe,” the agency said.

Egypt’s Conditional Offer

At a graduation ceremony at the Egyptian military academy, Sisi said Egypt wasn’t seeking a role in regional conflicts, but called it “inconceivable” for Cairo to stand by while Saudi Arabia was “harmed or its security and stability threatened.” He added: “Egypt, of course, with the directives of His Majesty King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, will carry out any measure to protect you or defend you.”

Any deployment would require parliamentary approval. Sisi said he hoped lawmakers would convene in an emergency session to authorize it “if it is requested of us.” He drew a firm boundary on the mission. “I’m not talking about fighting anyone or attacking anyone. We are speaking only about defence.”

Civilian Claims and the Houthi Narrative

Houthi-affiliated media said Saudi airstrikes beginning overnight on Saturday killed at least 12 people in Yemen, including three children. The group’s news agency said Saudi warplanes struck “civilian homes” in Taiz governorate, killing nine and wounding 16, and alleged the strikes used “cluster bombs, which are banned internationally.” The Houthis’ health ministry said strikes the previous day hit houses in al-Ar village in Dhamar’s Dawran Aness district, killing one child aged eight and two aged 10. The ministry said the children were among 124 people killed in Houthi territories since fighting resumed in September.

The Houthis themselves supplied these figures. The armed group is also firing missiles at an airport and drones at Saudi cities. Saudi Arabia didn’t immediately comment on the Dhamar allegations, and the available reporting provides no independent verification of the casualty claims.

Tehran’s Hormuz Leverage

Iran stands behind the Houthis, and the wider picture is sobering. Tehran seized control of the Strait of Hormuz after the war began in late February, choking a passage that normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption. Ships regularly face Iranian fire, and the strait offers the only sea exit for Gulf oil and gas exports.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said an oil tanker carrying more than two million barrels of crude caught fire after striking a naval mine in the strait. The Guards called it a supertanker “in violation of regulations” that tried to pass illegally. Iranian media said the vessel used a route Tehran hadn’t authorized.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi struck a conciliatory note at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Baghdad. “We support an inclusive and comprehensive political process as the only practical and sustainable way to resolve the issue,” he said. That offer comes from the government whose waterway blockade is strangling Gulf exports.

Elsewhere in the kingdom, Saudi Arabia executed five Saudi nationals convicted of “terrorism-related offences,” including joining a foreign organisation designated as terrorist, attacking security forces and supporting attacks inside the kingdom, according to the interior ministry.

At the closing news conference of the IMF and World Bank meetings in Bangkok, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said the fund would support Iraq “very firmly” with a requested loan programme. On Lebanon, she said: “We are in very intense discussions with the Lebanese authorities.”

Why This Matters: Saudi Arabia is absorbing drone and missile fire on several fronts while Iran keeps a chokehold on Hormuz, the route for Gulf oil and gas exports. Egypt’s offer to defend the kingdom, subject to parliamentary approval, shows how a proxy war can draw Arab states into a wider confrontation. Tehran’s call for a political process, as its forces control the strait and Houthi allies continue striking Saudi targets, tests whether diplomacy can work without leverage. For Gulf states, air defense and maritime security aren’t abstractions. They’re the price of keeping oil moving and cities protected.