Loud explosions shook Sanaa on Saturday as two warplanes were seen firing missiles at the city, according to two correspondents in the Yemeni capital. Houthi rebels accused Saudi forces of carrying out 26 strikes.
Hours later, firefighters were trying to put out a blaze at Aramco's Riyadh refinery, south of the Saudi capital. An AFP journalist saw ambulances and police vehicles near the facility, while flames and a large plume of smoke rose from the plant.
Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said the group had targeted an oil facility in Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones, and that the attack had started fires at the sites it struck.
Saudi authorities and the Saudi-led coalition had made no immediate public comment on the Houthi claims about the strikes on Sanaa or the attack near Riyadh.
The Houthis said Saudi Arabia had bombed Sanaa on Thursday night, describing it as the first such attack since fighting between the sides resumed in July.
Al-Masirah reported missile strikes on telecommunications infrastructure in Saada, a northwestern governorate that is one of the Houthis' strongholds.
The present round of fighting began after the Iran-backed Houthis said Saudi Arabia had struck Sanaa's airport to stop an Iranian aircraft from landing. The Houthis then attacked Saudi territory for the first time since 2022.
On July 20, the group announced a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia. It subsequently seized Yemen's entire Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Mandab strait in a lightning offensive.
The Houthis control most of northwestern Yemen, including Sanaa. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition backing Yemen's internationally recognized government against Houthi forces.
The World Health Organization says more than 800 people have been killed and more than 150,000 displaced since the fighting restarted.
Fighting around Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city after Sanaa and Aden, killed 80 combatants on Friday, according to sources on both sides. The Houthis said 55 of their fighters had died, while government sources said 26 troops were killed.
Saudi Civil Defense said shrapnel from an intercepted Houthi ballistic missile injured an Asian national in the southern Asir region early on Saturday.
On Friday, Civil Defense said a Houthi projectile struck a school in the southern Saudi city of Najran, damaging property without causing injuries. The Saudi-led coalition also said it had intercepted and destroyed four ballistic missiles launched towards the southern city of Khamis Mushait.
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