Saudi-led coalition rejects ‘misleading’ Houthi claim over Riyadh attack | News from the Houthis

The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition said the Yemeni armed group was “trying to distract” from its losses.

Houthi claims that the Iran-allied armed group targeted Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh are “misleading,” according to the Saudi-led coalition that supports Yemen’s internationally recognized government.

The remarks by coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki on Saturday came after the Houthis claimed ballistic missile and drone attacks on an Aramco oil facility near Riyadh.

The group said the attack caused large fires as fighting between the Houthis and government forces intensifies in Yemen.

In comments reported Saturday evening by Saudi media outlet Asharq Al-Awsat, al-Maliki said the Houthis are “trying to distract from the scale of the losses and the growing public anger against them.”

“Chaos and devastation”

The development comes after Yemeni forces “executed 257 precision targeting operations” against Houthi sites, movements and military capabilities on Saturday, according to the spokesperson for Yemen’s internationally recognized government forces, Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili.

He added that initial estimates indicate the operations killed at least 700 Houthi rebels.

Meanwhile, al-Maliki said the Houthis’ “links to external agendas” have brought “chaos and devastation to Yemen,” adding that “what the Houthis are facing in Taiz… is pushing them to seek illusory victories.”

Early Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition said its armed forces had carried out 97 “precise targeting operations” against Houthi reinforcements on the Tor al-Baha front and Taiz axis, using warplanes, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers.

Fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces has intensified since a fragile 2022 truce broke down in July, displacing hundreds of thousands of people since then.

In mid-September, the Houthis seized the port city of Mocha and strategic islands in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a vital route for global oil shipments, before anti-Houthi forces stabilized the front lines.

Yemen has been at war since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, forcing the Yemeni government to retreat to Aden.