Houthis claim six attacks on Saudi airports and refineries; the coalition reports a drone intercepted near Mecca, which the Houthis deny

Saudi Arabia went through a night of conflicting announcements between Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30. Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for six attacks on oil facilities, airports and a military target inside the kingdom, while the Saudi-led coalition announced three interceptions by Friday morning, the last a drone in the Mecca area. On Friday morning the Houthis said they carried out no operation toward the Saudi interior and called the Mecca drone claim false. Each side’s claims are reported here as its own and have not been independently verified.

The first Saudi announcement came at 20:53 Riyadh time on Thursday (19:53 in Greece). Coalition spokesman Brig. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said, according to the Saudi Press Agency, that air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh.

The Houthi version: six “qualitative operations”

Around 22:50 Sanaa time (21:50 in Greece) the Houthi armed forces answered with a statement of six “qualitative operations”: a ballistic missile against the Ras Tanura refinery, a missile against Aramco facilities at Abqaiq, a barrage of missiles against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, a drone against King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, a ballistic missile against the Rabigh refinery, and a strike on the headquarters of Saudi forces massing in the Najran area. For Dammam they claim air traffic was interrupted, and for Najran that there were dead and wounded.

The Houthis present the attacks as retaliation for “massacres” of civilians and promise to continue on the equation of “blockade for blockade, escalation for escalation” until the strikes stop and the blockade on the country is lifted. Earlier the same day they had claimed that Saudi aircraft carried out 116 raids and missile attacks within 24 hours on the provinces of Saada, Hajjah, Al Bayda, Al Jawf, Taiz and Lahij. Ras Tanura had already been targeted on Tuesday, October 27, as we reported.

Mecca: a drone the Houthis say never existed

At 07:27 Riyadh time on Friday, a new announcement from the coalition, again carried by the Saudi Press Agency, said a Houthi unmanned aircraft was intercepted and destroyed in the Mecca area. Ballistic-missile debris had fallen on Mecca and Medina on Sunday, October 25, according to Saudi Civil Defence, which the Houthis denied.

About an hour and a half later the Houthis replied that they carried out no operation toward the Saudi interior on Friday. They called the claim of a drone interception over Mecca airspace a “great slander” and added that their attacks target oil facilities and military bases.

Riyadh turns to diplomacy

Riyadh also moved diplomatically. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan discussed the Houthi attacks on civilians and infrastructure with Yemeni counterpart Afrah al-Zoubah, according to the Saudi Press Agency. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke with South Korean President Lee Jae-myung, who condemned the attacks. In the early hours of Friday, Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman held a series of calls, among them with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, in which Riyadh reports talks on defence cooperation and coordination on regional developments, and with Spain’s Margarita Robles, with whom he reviewed regional developments in light of the Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia.