the Houthi group in Yemen and the Saudi-led coalition launched large-scale attacks
The Houthis claimed to have launched a series of missile and drone attacks across Saudi Arabia, while intensive airstrikes by the Saudi-led coalition hit Houthi-held areas in Yemen and caused several casualties.
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Yahya Sarea, a Houthi military spokesman, said that his group launched seven missile and drone attacks targeting airports, oil facilities, and a military base in the Saudi cities of Riyadh, Yanbu, Rabigh, Dammam, Najran, and Khamis Mushait.
Sarea said King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was attacked in two stages. Other attacks targeted several locations, including Saudi Aramco facilities in Yanbu and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition announced it had intercepted and destroyed several missiles launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh, Taif, and Yanbu, as well as a drone in the Eastern Province.
The Saudi General Directorate of Civil Defense said that debris from two of the intercepted missiles fell in the Mecca and Medina regions.
The Houthis later denied targeting the two holy cities, calling such claims false and baseless.
The Houthis claimed Saturday's attack followed what they described as 100 Saudi airstrikes on Houthi-held areas in Yemen in the previous 24 hours.
The airstrikes reportedly affected Sanaa, Yemen's Houthi-controlled capital, as well as the Red Sea port city of Mocha, located in Taiz Province, southwestern Yemen.
The Houthi-run Al-Masirah television channel reported casualties from the attacks, including eight people killed and more than 10 others wounded when the airstrikes hit a cement factory workers' residence in Hamdan District, Sanaa Province.
The attacks came as Yemen's internationally recognized government forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, intensified their "Dawn of Yemen" offensive against the Houthis. The group responded with missile and drone attacks.
In a separate statement, Sarea said Houthi forces had targeted what he called a Saudi-backed "forces deployment" at Al-Nasr camp and a naval military base in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, which houses the Yemeni government.
Amid escalating tensions, the U.S. State Department said on Saturday it had updated its travel advisory for several countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon, and Israel, citing threats from the Houthis.
Yemen has been wracked by conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized control of the capital, Sanaa, and much of northern Yemen.
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