Saudi-led coalition says destroyed more than 100 Houthi targets

RIYADH (AFP) -- The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said Saturday it destroyed more than 100 military targets in a “large-scale operation” against the Houthis.

The conflict between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government reignited in July and has since spilled over into the neighbouring kingdom.

“We are carrying out a large-scale operation targeting the personnel and capabilities of the Houthi militia,” Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi coalition, wrote on X.

“We destroyed 136 military targets in areas controlled by the Houthi militia,” he said in a separate post.

The Almasirah TV channel reported that Saudi missiles targeted areas in the northwestern Yemeni governorate of Saada.

In addition to seizing territory along the Red Sea coast in Yemen, the Houthis have attacked transport hubs, oil facilities, and other civilian targets in Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, with drones and missiles.

Saudi Arabia said on Friday that attacks on Riyadh international airport had killed three people the previous day, when the Houthis claimed hits on the facility.

Media reported that two people died in Saudi attacks on the airport in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa.

Saudi Arabia’s and Yemen’s government forces have struggled to reverse the Houthis’ advance, despite a counter-offensive aimed at recapturing territory, including the area around the Bab al-Mandab strait, which is crucial to global shipping.