Loud explosions rattled Riyadh on Monday evening after Iran-backed Houthis claimed they had struck King Khalid International Airport, a refinery belonging to state oil giant Aramco and other sites in the kingdom's south. A Houthi spokesman made the claim. The strikes hit a civilian airport in a capital city as Yemeni government forces pressed a major offensive against the group.
The Security Picture
Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia aren't new, but their scope is widening. A source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP that an attack on Sunday had again halted pumping through the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea. That pipeline matters. It's a key conduit for the kingdom's exports since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the wider Middle East war.
Houthi attacks have repeatedly targeted Saudi oil infrastructure and its tankers in the Red Sea. The group also declared a maritime blockade on Saudi ships. Crude prices were already soaring because of the war before the Houthis began targeting the world's largest oil exporter. Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday that global oil stockpiles were "scarily thin." "The system is already straining," Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London.
The Saudi-led coalition said its forces responded on the Red Sea coast. Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said on X that naval forces hit "military targets" belonging to the Houthis in Hodeida. He said they "destroyed weapons depots, facilities storing booby-trapped boats and naval mines" and had "thwarted a planned attack" targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea.
The Ground Offensive
Yemeni government forces said they had driven Houthi forces from areas around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, including the port city of Mocha, Dhubab airport and Al-Omari military camp. The National reported that government forces had recaptured the strategic port city of Mokha and that 100 jets took part in the Sunday offensive. Military sources cited by AFP stopped short of confirming an official announcement of Mocha's recapture. They said pro-government forces cut off the only supply route to the port.
The Yemeni military said it had carried out more than 1,000 strikes and begun an offensive against Sanaa. It also said it had expelled the Houthis from several areas in Taiz in the southwest, where deadly fighting surged in recent days. The Saudi-led coalition, which backs the internationally recognised government, said 100 warplanes flew sorties at dawn.
The Houthis previously controlled much of northern Yemen, including Sanaa and the western city of Hodeida. Last month they seized swathes of coastline along the Red Sea and the key Bab al-Mandab Strait, in Yemen's deadliest fighting in years. They've attacked Saudi Arabia since Yemen's civil war flared back to life.
Civilian Impact
The human cost is mounting. Fighting in Taiz has displaced more than 184,000 people, the United Nations says, and has become the most active front in the Middle East war in recent weeks.
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was "deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting." The spokesman also condemned "the continued Houthi cross-border attacks" on Saudi Arabia.
A Widening Defence Pact
Pakistan and Turkey pledged to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a new mutual defence pact after weeks of Houthi attacks. Representatives of the three countries held an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday under a joint defence agreement signed in August that commits them to come to each other's aid in the event of an attack. They agreed "to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom." The statement didn't specify what role the troops would fill.
The National's headline also reported that Saudi Arabia had the right to defend itself from the Houthis, a position attributed to U.S. Senator Marco Rubio.
Why This Matters: The Houthi campaign shows how Iran's proxy network can reach well beyond Yemen's borders. Strikes on a Gulf capital's airport, refinery attacks and a halted export pipeline hit a global energy system that Aramco's own chief calls strained. From this perspective, the new Saudi-Pakistan-Turkey commitment signals that regional states no longer expect outside powers to carry the burden of deterring non-state armed groups backed by Tehran. The unanswered questions are what role the incoming troops will play and whether the government offensive can hold coastal ground that the Houthis seized only last month.