Houthi missile towards Medina and an alert in Yanbu, where Greece’s Patriot battery is stationed – Houthis reportedly ask Riyadh for $51 billion to stop

The Saudi-led coalition announced on Thursday, November 5 that it intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards the Medina area. The announcement was made by the coalition spokesman, Colonel Turki al-Malki, in a post on X, without saying what the missile’s target was or whether there was damage. A little earlier, Saudi Civil Defence had issued a warning for the Yanbu governorate, on the Red Sea coast, which belongs administratively to the province of Medina.

Yanbu is of particular interest to Greece, since the Greek Patriot battery of the Hellenic Air Defence Detachment in Saudi Arabia (ELDYSA) is stationed there, protecting the area’s energy installations. Only on Tuesday the Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, Dimitrios Houpis, visited Saudi Arabia, with ELDYSA at the centre of the visit. Yanbu had also been in the crosshairs at the end of October, when the coalition shot down ballistic missiles towards Taif and Yanbu.

The price the Houthis are setting

The new attack coincides with a Wall Street Journal report on Riyadh’s contacts with the Houthis. The newspaper, citing people briefed on the talks, writes that Saudi Arabia asked to learn on what terms the attacks would stop. The occasion was the strikes on Saudi tankers in the Red Sea and the movement’s positions dominating the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, after the capture of Mocha in September.

The Houthis, according to the WSJ, replied by asking for compensation of $51 billion for the years of Saudi air raids and blockade, and for Riyadh to officially recognise them as the legitimate authority in Yemen. That would force Saudi Arabia to abandon the internationally recognised government, which it has backed since 2015. The same sources say other amounts, which were not made public, were discussed at a later stage of the talks.

The crown prince hesitates, losses are kept secret

According to the American newspaper, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman does not want to accept such a deal before strengthening the kingdom’s military position against the Houthis. Saudi officials fear that if they pay, the movement will come back with new demands and new attacks. The other option, a major ground operation in Yemen, could cost heavy losses to Saudi forces and provoke domestic reactions. The WSJ reports that dozens of Saudi military personnel have already been killed in the war, without these losses having been announced publicly.

On the ground in Yemen, government forces announced an advance in the east of al-Jawf province as part of the “Dawn of Yemen” operation, while fighting continues in Taiz and Lahij; see our report on the advance in al-Jawf.