Fighting escalates in Yemen’s Marib and al-Jawf, as UN migration agency says more than 340,000 Yemenis displaced since August.

Saudi-led coalition forces fighting Yemen’s Houthis have said they intercepted two missiles and two drones targeting Riyadh, allegedly launched by the Houthis, as fighting intensifies across various front lines in Yemen.

“Air defences intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi terrorist militia toward Riyadh,” Turki al-Maliki, the Saudi-led coalition spokesperson, said in a post on X early on Sunday.

Earlier on Saturday, al-Maliki said two suspected Houthi drones “were intercepted and destroyed” in the Riyadh and southern regions.

At least 26 people have been killed in suspected Houthi drone and missile attacks in Saudi Arabia since September 23, according to the kingdom’s authorities.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted Riyadh’s King Khalid International airport, as well as the East-West pipeline and oil infrastructure in eastern and southern Saudi Arabia.

The interceptions come as the Saudi-led forces supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government also said they intercepted several drones launched towards the Yemeni city of Marib.

Yemeni army spokesman Colonel Majid al-Nuzaili said government forces had made gains against the Houthis during heavy fighting in the al-Hazm and Madghal districts of al-Jawf, as fighting intensified in Marib.

Al-Nuzaili said 321 Houthi leaders had been killed or wounded in 723 targeted operations by Saudi-backed forces in the Taiz, Lahij, Marib and al-Jawf governorates, and that 117 military vehicles used by the Iran-allied rebel group had been destroyed.

The coalition carried out at least 37 air strikes and 56 drone attacks, as well as 541 artillery strikes.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Saudi-led coalition had launched 72 air strikes against the Houthis in the Saada, Taiz, Lahij and al-Jawf governorates over the past 24 hours.

Saree said the Houthis targeted Yemen’s Saudi-backed forces in the Kharaz area of the Lahij governorate with ballistic missiles.

Media outlets affiliated with the Houthis reported that two women and two children were injured as a result of artillery shelling by Saudi-backed forces in a residential neighbourhood of the Shuaub district in Yemen’s Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa.

More than 340,000 people have been displaced as a result of fighting in Yemen since August, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Security alert

As the fight between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Houthis escalates, the US Embassy in Riyadh issued a nationwide security alert on Saturday urging Americans in the kingdom to exercise “heightened vigilance”, citing an increased threat of Houthi attacks.

The embassy said Houthi attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure in Saudi Arabia had “caused civilian casualties and severe travel disruptions”, warning that hostilities could spread “rapidly”.

“Please take extreme caution if you choose to use airports in Saudi Arabia,” it said.