Saudi Arabia went through a rare night of tension this weekend, as its Civil Defense authority issued an unprecedented string of security alerts covering the capital, Riyadh, and the nearby city of Al-Kharj, before declaring early Saturday that the danger had passed across all affected areas.
The warnings began late Friday and initially spanned a wide swath of the kingdom, including the provinces of Farasan, Khamis Mushait, Al-Ula, Yanbu, Taif and Jeddah, as well as the city of Abha and Jizan province. Authorities urged residents to strictly follow safety instructions before confirming, hours later, that the threat had been neutralized in every one of those locations.
The alerts followed remarks by Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea, who claimed his forces had thwarted what he called « criminal attempts » inside the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, blaming Riyadh for the incident and threatening retaliation. Sarea went on to accuse the Saudi military of carrying out 26 airstrikes using F-15 jets launched from the Khamis Mushait air base, targeting Yemen’s Taiz province.
The Houthis currently control Yemen’s most densely populated areas as well as its entire Red Sea coastline, territory seized in a series of rapid offensives earlier this month. Since declaring a naval blockade of Riyadh in July, the group has stepped up strikes on Saudi vessels in the Red Sea, and in recent weeks has expanded its campaign to hit multiple regions of the kingdom with ballistic missiles and drones, striking both civilian and oil infrastructure and leaving dozens dead or wounded.
The UN Security Council has strongly condemned the continued Houthi attacks, affirming Saudi Arabia’s inherent right to self-defense under international law while expressing solidarity with the kingdom.
What makes this latest episode notable is its target: never before in this fast-escalating conflict had an alert of this scale been issued for the Saudi capital itself, a signal that the balance of power along the kingdom’s southern front may be shifting further away from the Riyadh-led coalition. With the Houthis now controlling the entire Red Sea coast and threatening shipping lanes far beyond Yemen’s borders, analysts say the group’s ability to strike deep inside Saudi territory raises the stakes for a war that shows no sign of a diplomatic resolution.
