At least three people have been wounded in attacks on airports in southern Saudi Arabia as fighting intensifies between Yemen’s Houthi movement and forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said Tuesday that attacks on Jazan and Najran airports, both located near the border with Yemen, caused minor injuries and property damage.
“The attacks resulted in three minor injuries and material damage,” the aviation authority said.
Yemen’s Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, said late Monday that their forces had targeted several locations across southern Saudi Arabia, including airports and military installations.
The cross-border attacks came as Yemen’s internationally recognized government launched a major counteroffensive against Houthi forces inside Yemen.
Government forces said Monday they had recaptured the strategic Red Sea port city of Mocha, along with key positions near the Bab al-Mandeb strait, one of the world’s most important maritime shipping routes.
The Houthis disputed the claim and denied losing control of Mocha. Independent verification of the competing battlefield claims was not immediately available.
Yemen’s government military said in a statement that its forces took control of Mocha following “fierce fighting with the Houthis,” adding that several Houthi fighters were killed or wounded during the clashes.
Government forces also announced what they described as a “strategic offensive” aimed at Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, which has been under Houthi control since 2014.
The Saudi-led military coalition supporting the internationally recognized government said it had also launched a new air campaign against Houthi positions.
Coalition spokesman Major-General Turki al-Maliki said about 100 fighter jets were supporting Yemeni government forces and providing air cover around the Bab al-Mandeb strait.
Al-Maliki also claimed that hundreds of Houthi targets had been destroyed during the operations. The extent of the damage could not immediately be independently verified.
The escalating fighting and renewed attacks inside Saudi Arabia raise concerns about a broader regional confrontation and further disruption around the Bab al-Mandeb, a critical shipping route connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the wider Indian Ocean.
