Saudi Arabia: Houthis claim strikes on Abha airport and an air base; the coalition says it intercepted three drones

Yemen’s Houthis claimed on Tuesday, November 3, that they hit Abha international airport and the Khamis Mushait air base in south-western Saudi Arabia, while the Saudi-led coalition announced it had intercepted three drones, one in the Mecca area, one in the Eastern Province and one heading towards the south of the country. Meanwhile the US embassy in Saudi Arabia warned US citizens of the risk of new attacks on airports.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree announced two operations in the Asir region. In the first, he claimed, a drone struck Abha international airport and disrupted air traffic. In the second, he said, a ballistic missile directly hit King Khalid air base at Khamis Mushait. Claims of damage have not been confirmed by an independent source. Saree also said Houthi forces fired ballistic missiles at government forces in the Ras al-Arah and al-Mudarabah areas of Lahj province, near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, with dozens of casualties by his claim, and at forces east of al-Jawf, a northern province bordering Saudi Arabia, with a large number killed or wounded and several military vehicles destroyed.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on X that his forces intercepted and destroyed a drone over the Mecca area. In the evening he added that a drone was intercepted and destroyed in the Eastern Province, and later another heading towards the south. The coalition did not mention Abha or Khamis Mushait. Earlier the same day the drone over Mecca had been destroyed, as we reported in Saudi coalition says it destroyed a drone near Mecca.

The US embassy’s warning

The US embassy in Saudi Arabia repeated in a new security alert that the Iran-backed Houthis have engaged in hostilities against the kingdom, with attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure that caused casualties and serious disruption to travel. The hostilities can, the embassy warns, escalate rapidly and beyond the immediate area.

Since October 23 the US State Department has ordered non-emergency government employees and their families to leave the country. Those working there need special permission from the chief of mission to use any airport, after the recent missile and drone attacks. US citizens are urged to consider possible attacks on airports, airspace closures, flight cancellations and travel disruption, to exercise “extreme caution” if they use an airport and to check their flight departure time directly with the airline and airport.

Yemen’s government accuses Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah

The same day the interior minister of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Haidan, alleged that 21 experts from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Lebanon’s Hezbollah are helping direct the Houthis’ military operations: 14 Guards officers and seven from Hezbollah. According to Haidan, their involvement has gone beyond funding, arming and training to planning and command. “This is not a training mission, but a full military general staff,” he said.

The experts, the minister said, work on ballistic missiles, drones, naval attacks and electronic warfare, select commercial ships as targets, deploy explosive-laden boats and autonomous underwater vehicles, and train fighters in mine-laying and siege tactics. He asked the international community to designate the Houthis a terrorist organisation and enforce the arms embargo of UN Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2624. Tehran says the Houthis act independently, while Hezbollah has denied in the past having a role in Yemen’s war. These are allegations by one side of the conflict.

The escalation in Saudi Arabia goes hand in hand with the Houthi advance on the ground in Yemen, which has reached within 80 kilometres of Aden. Haidan linked the foreign support to the Houthi siege of Taiz too: “Decisions are written in Tehran, announced in Sanaa and paid for in Taiz, Hodeidah and other provinces hit by the fighting.”