Saudi Arabia Intercepts Four Houthi Drones

Saudi Arabia said it intercepted four drones over Riyadh, the Eastern Province and the South, as Egypt signaled it could provide defensive assistance amid renewed fighting with Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis. The attacks add to a series of Houthi strikes on Saudi targets and raise the prospect of Egyptian military support for the kingdom.

Drones and Regional Defense

Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, said 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.” Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government in its war with the Houthis. Egypt is also a coalition member.

At a graduation ceremony at the Egyptian military academy, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said Egypt wasn’t seeking a role in regional conflicts, but it was “inconceivable” for Cairo to stand by while Saudi Arabia was “harmed or its security and stability threatened.” He said Egypt would take measures to protect or defend the kingdom if King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman directed it.

Any Egyptian deployment would require parliamentary approval. Al-Sisi said he hoped lawmakers would convene in an emergency session to authorize assistance “if it is requested of us.” He added: “I'm not talking about fighting anyone or attacking anyone. We are speaking only about defence.”

Strikes on Saudi and Yemeni Targets

Since Yemen’s conflict flared back to life in July after a years-long hiatus, the Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi oil installations, energy facilities, tankers and transit hubs. One Houthi attack on Riyadh’s airport last week killed 13 people.

Houthi-affiliated media reported that 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 people and wounding 16, with people still trapped under rubble. It had earlier reported strikes in Dhamar province that killed three children and wounded 17 others, and alleged that 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 children aged 10 and wounding more than a dozen people. The ministry blamed Saudi Arabia; Saudi Arabia didn't immediately comment. The ministry said the children were among 124 people the Houthis said had been killed in their territories since fighting resumed in September.

Two missiles landed Friday within the perimeter of the airport in Aden, interim capital of the Saudi-backed government, authorities said. The Houthis claimed responsibility. A statement attributed to a Houthi military source said the attack targeted “the Saudi forces' command headquarters in the Badr camp in Aden province” and a weapons depot.

Maritime Threats and Hormuz

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said it received a report of an incident 140 nautical miles southeast of Yemen’s Al Mukalla. The captain of an LNG tanker said a small skiff carrying seven people approached and fired two shots. The tanker’s armed security team fired two warning shots, forcing the skiff to change course.

UKMTO also said a tanker was hit by an “unknown projectile” 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. The report also said ships have regularly come under Iranian fire during the Middle East war, while Iran blocks the Strait of Hormuz, the only exit route for oil and gas exports via the Gulf sea.

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 of Hormuz. The Guards described it as a supertanker “in violation of regulations” attempting to pass illegally. Iran’s media said the tanker was using a route unauthorized by Iran. The report said Tehran seized control over Hormuz after the war began in late February, choking off a strait that normally carries about one-fifth of global oil consumption.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Tehran supports a political process to resolve the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. “We support an inclusive and comprehensive political process as the only practical and sustainable way to resolve the issue,” he said at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Baghdad.