RIYADH/SANAA – The Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government in Yemen said on Tuesday that recent attacks by Yemen's Houthi group targeting Saudi Arabia constitute a "dangerous escalation."
In a post on social media platform X, coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki said the escalation by the Houthi group and its attempts to target the kingdom, its national assets, citizens and residents reflect what he described as a "hostile and irresponsible approach."
Al-Maliki said the latest attacks targeted civilian and economic sites in the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran, injuring 73 civilians, including women and children.
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He said the attacks constituted a violation of Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and a direct threat to the security and safety of its citizens and residents.
Al-Maliki added that the coalition's Joint Forces Command would take necessary operational measures to deter the Houthi group, respond to the sources of threats and neutralize their danger.
Houthis said Tuesday that they hit multiple targets in Saudi Arabia, including Abha International Airport, King Khalid Air Base and facilities belonging to the state-owned oil company Aramco in Abha and Jizan, according to Houthi-run media Ansarollah.
Houthi media: 7 killed, 7 injured in airstrike on prison
Meanwhile, seven people, including a child, were killed and seven others injured in an airstrike on a prison in Al-Jawf province in northern Yemen on Monday, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported, attributing the strike to Saudi Arabia.
The strike hit the prison in Al-Hazm, the Houthi-controlled provincial capital, the broadcaster said, adding that the injured had been taken to a nearby hospital.
Al-Masirah cited the provincial civil defense chief Hassan Saboula as saying that 25 inmates remained trapped beneath the rubble.
Footage aired by al-Masirah showed extensive damage to the facility and rescuers searching through debris.
There was no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia.
Yemen govt launches major northern offensive
Also on Monday, Yemeni government forces launched a major offensive against the Houthis in northern Yemen, opening a new battlefront aimed at drawing Houthi forces away from an escalating campaign in the country's west, a government military official told Xinhua.
Backed by armored vehicles, government forces began advancing toward the Houthi-held Al-Labanat military base east of Al-Hazm, the provincial capital of Al-Jawf, and were surrounding the facility as fighting raged, the official said on condition of anonymity.
The ground assault followed a series of airstrikes on the base over the past 48 hours that destroyed a Houthi command-and-control center and arms caches, weakening the group's defenses there, he said.
The official said the operation was aimed at forcing the Houthis to divert forces from the southwestern province of Taiz and neighboring Red Sea province of Hodeidah, where four days of fierce fighting had left at least 117 fighters dead on both sides.
A Houthi military source, however, said government forces had failed to make significant gains in Al-Jawf after meeting stiff resistance, adding that intense fighting was continuing.
The northern offensive came as the Houthis pressed a military campaign in western Yemen aimed at cutting key roads linking Taiz with the government-held Red Sea port of Mocha and advancing toward areas near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.
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The Bab al-Mandab Strait acts as a critical maritime chokepoint connecting the Gulf of Aden to the southern end of the Red Sea, forming an indispensable artery for global energy shipments and international trade moving to and from the Suez Canal.
The latest escalation marks some of the heaviest ground fighting in western Yemen in recent years, raising concerns of a broader return to large-scale hostilities after years of relative calm across many of the country's frontlines.
Yemen has been mired in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene the following year in support of the internationally recognized Yemeni government.
UN envoy: Houthi attacks threaten to expand conflict
UN special envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg said Monday that recent Houthi attacks across several frontlines are "an extremely alarming development" that threatens to further expand the conflict.
In a statement posted on social media platform X, Grundberg said reports of civilians killed and injured, families displaced, and civilian infrastructure damaged were "deeply troubling."
Grundberg said a return to sustained large-scale fighting will have grave consequences for civilians and make an already difficult path toward a political settlement even harder.
