Yemen’s Houthis claim attack on Riyadh airport, deny losing territory

After declaring a counter-offensive, government forces claimed on Oct 5 to have pushed the Houthis out of the Bab al-Mandab area.

SANAA – Yemen’s Houthis claimed an attack on the main airport in the Saudi capital while also denying on Oct 6 losing territory to government forces, as fighting intensified.

After declaring a counter-offensive, government forces claimed on Oct 5 to have pushed the Houthis out of the Bab al-Mandab area, a key shipping route in the Red Sea, as well as the port city of Mocha, which was captured in September.

Claims by both sides have been impossible to independently verify with the situation on the ground moving fast and access for journalists difficult.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed on Telegram that the group still held all territory recently seized, including strategic areas along the Red Sea coast.

Their fighters “have full control over all their advances on the ground”, he said.

He said the Houthis had carried out dozens of strikes in the past few hours targeting government forces in Yemen’s Al-Jawf and Marib regions, while also attacking Taiz governorate.

On the night of Oct 5, the Houthis said they had struck Riyadh airport and a refinery belonging to Saudi state oil giant Aramco.

Loud explosions rattled the Saudi capital on Oct 5 evening.

On Oct 6 Saudi Arabia’s civilian aviation authority said at least three people were also wounded in attacks on Jazan and Najran airports near the Yemen border on Oct 5.

Saudi Arabia, the main backer of the Yemeni government, has been providing air support for a counter-offensive launched by government forces.

Yemen’s government forces claimed late on Oct 5 that they had achieved “victories on several fronts”, but military sources with the government nevertheless refrained from officially confirming taking Mocha, only saying they had cut the one supply route to the area.

They also said they expelled the Houthis from several areas in Taiz in the southwest, where fighting has surged in recent days.

Yemen’s government has announced a goal of retaking all Houthi territory – home to most of the country’s population, and much of it held for more than a decade.

Yemen’s civil war flared up again in July after years of relative calm, opening a new front in the wider Middle East war that began with US-Israeli strikes on Iran in February.

The Houthis in September seized control of the entire western coastline of Yemen along the Red Sea in the country’s deadliest fighting in years.

Since then, they have regularly targeted oil and military installations in Saudi Arabia and have declared a maritime blockade on its ships.

Pakistan and Turkey have pledged to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a mutual defence pact following weeks of Houthi attacks.

The Yemen conflict has caused a humanitarian crisis. Since the renewed fighting broke out, more than 184,000 people have been displaced from their homes, according to the United Nations.

A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting”. He condemned “the continued Houthi cross-border attacks” on Saudi Arabia. AFP