Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi movement, known as Ansar Allah after the family name of its leaders, said Wednesday that Saudi Arabia had carried out dozens of fresh airstrikes across Yemen, hours after Riyadh accused the rebels of launching a drone toward the holy city of Mecca, an allegation the Houthis denied.
The movement's military spokesman, Yahya Saree, said 40 Saudi airstrikes hit the provinces of Taiz, Marib and Hodeidah within 24 hours. He had previously said Saudi forces carried out hundreds of strikes over recent days. Saudi Arabia does not generally respond to such Houthi statements.
Riyadh is the main backer of Yemen's internationally recognized government, which has faced large-scale rebel attacks since the start of this month after the war reignited in July, opening a new front in the wider Middle East conflict. Ansar Allah has meanwhile inflicted heavy defeats on Yemeni government forces, seizing control last week of nearly the entire western coastline on the Red Sea and tightening its grip on the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, the strategic waterway linking Europe and Asia via the Suez Canal.
Mecca drone claim
Earlier, the Saudi-led military coalition said its air defenses destroyed an unmanned drone on Tuesday that had been launched by what it called "the Houthi terrorist militia" before it could enter the restricted airspace over Mecca, the city that draws millions of Sunni and Shia pilgrims every year.
The coalition said the security of the two holy Islamic sites and their visitors was a red line, and the Saudi royal court condemned what it called a cowardly attack.
An unnamed resident of Mecca said they would not hide their fear, asking whether the attackers were not themselves Muslims and saying the holiest city in Islam was being targeted. Another resident said the region was one where anything could happen, describing panicked people running to their windows to see what was going on.
Several Arab governments condemned the alleged attack, including Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Lebanon. The Arab League's secretary-general called it an event of extremely great gravity, while the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation described it as a heinous attack. Turkey's foreign ministry also condemned the drone strike on Mecca, saying it backed Saudi Arabia's national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security.
Houthis deny targeting holy sites
The Houthi movement denied targeting the holy city, with its spokesman saying its strikes hit oil facilities and military bases far from religious sites. Ansar Allah said it had attacked a facility belonging to the Saudi oil giant Aramco in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast and an air base in Khamis Mushait, and claimed to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet.
Fighting also raged between forces loyal to the internationally recognized government and Houthi fighters in al-Jawf province in northern Yemen, near the Saudi border. Footage from Agence France-Presse showed soldiers with armored combat vehicles moving through the desert and firing machine guns at enemy positions.
Oil prices and diplomacy
With strikes hitting its territory and its ships threatened at sea, by Ansar Allah in the Red Sea and by Iran in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude exporter, finds itself squeezed on multiple fronts, with potentially major consequences for the global economy.
Oil prices have stayed elevated as a result. Brent crude, the international benchmark, traded at nearly $106 a barrel, a slight dip but still far above levels seen before the Middle East war began.
Saudi Crown Prince and de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman has stepped up diplomatic contacts against this backdrop. He traveled to Egypt on Tuesday, where officials fear collapsing Suez Canal revenue because of threats to shipping through Bab-el-Mandeb. Alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, he called for guarantees of free and safe navigation in the Red Sea.
Riyadh is seeking American backing, but according to the news site Axios, citing sources within President Donald Trump's administration, Trump declined to order strikes against the Houthis as requested by the Saudi crown prince.
Ansar Allah maintains that international shipping through Bab-el-Mandeb faces no threat, while saying it bars Saudi vessels from passing through the strait.
Displacement and past humanitarian crisis
More than 100,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since Ansar Allah launched its deadly offensive at the start of the month, the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Tuesday.
The previous phase of the Yemen war, which lasted from 2014 to 2022, caused a humanitarian crisis of immense proportions in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.
