Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted missile fired towards Medina

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said on Thursday that its air defences intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards the Medina region, home to one of Islam’s holiest cities, Al Jazeera reported.

Coalition spokesman Turki al-Malki said in a post on X that air defence intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militia toward Medina. The announcement came minutes after Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency warned of potential danger near the strategic port of Yanbu. The National Early Warning Platform in Yanbu Governorate issued the alert, and the agency later said the threat had passed.

Houthis deny targeting Medina

The Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah, rejected any suggestion that they were targeting the city, calling such accusations a “blatant and grave falsehood.” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X that “our operations target only oil facilities and military bases” and called the allegation a lie. The group has attacked airports, energy infrastructure and military sites, and has targeted Yanbu port several times in recent months, according to Al Jazeera.

Why Yanbu matters

Yanbu is a major oil export hub and a key outlet for crude transported through Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline. The port and pipeline have played an important role since the outbreak of the US-Israeli war on Iran in February, helping Riyadh ship crude and fuel to global markets.

Fighting in Taiz and al-Jawf

Separately, Yemen’s internationally recognised government forces made gains in the Sanamat area of Taiz governorate, where fighting continues. Colonel Majed Abdullah al-Nazili said government forces carried out 1,298 “targeting operations” against the Houthis in the past 24 hours and “managed to gain control” of Sanamat. He said the operations killed about 400 Houthi fighters and destroyed 132 vehicles, cars or heavy weapons placements. Al Jazeera said it could not independently verify the claims.

Yemeni government forces previously reclaimed Taiz’s Dhubab district and key positions near the Bab al-Mandeb strait. On the al-Jawf front, military engineering units continue to clear recaptured sites of mines and booby traps, al-Nazili added.

Late last month, the government said 16,100 Houthi operatives and commanders had been killed or wounded since October 5. The Houthis have not confirmed a death toll, and have continued firing missiles regularly towards Saudi Arabia, hitting multiple airports and disrupting air traffic over the kingdom.

War of attrition

Yazeed al-Jeddawy, a research manager at the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies, told Al Jazeera that the conflict increasingly appears to be moving towards a prolonged war of attrition. He said the government offensive had not shifted the balance of power over the past 30 days. “The conflict is no longer driven solely by the dynamics inside Yemen; it is intertwined with the wider regional confrontation and the war involving Iran,” he added.

Source: Al Jazeera.