Saudi-Led Coalition Says It Destroyed 20 Ballistic Missiles in Yemen
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — WEB DESK: The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said on Tuesday that its forces destroyed a storage facility containing 20 ballistic missiles in northwestern Yemen as military operations intensify across the country.
The missile storage facility was located at a mountainous site in Saada province, a major Houthi stronghold near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia.
The coalition also said it destroyed a separate ballistic missile launch platform in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa.
Coalition spokesman Major General Turki Al-Malki announced the operations amid a sharp escalation in fighting between Saudi-backed forces and the Houthis.
The latest strikes followed a coalition operation against Houthi targets in the western province of Hodeidah along the Red Sea coast.
The coalition said those operations destroyed weapons depots as well as storage facilities containing explosive-laden boats and naval mines.
It also said preparations for attacks targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea had been disrupted.
The latest military activity comes amid renewed cross-border attacks and rapidly rising tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.
Saudi authorities said three people suffered minor injuries after attacks targeted facilities at King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport on Monday.
Material damage was also reported at the airports.
Saudi aviation authorities did not identify those responsible for the attacks in their statement, although the Houthis separately claimed a series of missile and drone operations against targets across the kingdom.
The group said its operations targeted airports, military facilities and an Aramco refinery.
The Houthis also claimed to have targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Abha Airport and several military locations in southern Saudi Arabia.
Some of those Houthi claims had not been independently verified at the time of publication.
The renewed escalation has also increased concerns over maritime security in the Red Sea, one of the world’s most strategically important shipping corridors.
Yemen has faced prolonged conflict since the Houthis seized Sanaa and other parts of the country in 2014.
A Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government.
A UN-brokered truce introduced in 2022 had significantly reduced major cross-border hostilities for an extended period, but the latest escalation has brought large-scale military operations back into focus.
The destruction of the missile facility and launch platform remains a claim by the Saudi-led coalition. Independent confirmation of the extent of the damage was not immediately available.
