Houthis Claim Missile Strike on Saudi Forces in Jazan and Attacks on Riyadh Airport and East-West Pipeline Station
Why It MattersClaimed strikes on a major Gulf airport and on the pipeline carrying rerouted crude raise the security risk profile for Saudi airspace and airports, which business-aviation operators weigh when planning regional flights.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Friday that they had fired two ballistic missiles at what they described as concentrations of Saudi forces in Al-Tuwal in Jazan province, hours after Saudi civil defense issued an all-clear for the province. It was not immediately clear whether the claimed attack was related to alerts issued by Saudi civil defense in Jazan earlier that day.
In a separate statement, the group said it had attacked King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and a pumping station on Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the Houthi account.
Jazan is home to a Saudi Aramco refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day. Southern Saudi Arabia, which borders Yemen, has come under repeated missile and drone attacks by the Houthis on military installations and energy infrastructure, including the Jazan refinery. With the conflict in the Middle East disrupting oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh has rerouted about 4 million barrels per day of crude via the East-West Pipeline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, equivalent to about 4% of global supply. Fighting between the Houthis and the coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government has intensified after the Houthis advanced in September towards the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic shipping chokepoint at the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
