The Saudi-led coalition dismissed Sunday Houthi claims of an attack on Riyadh as “misleading” after reports of visible flames at an oil facility near the Saudi capital.
Fighting between the Iran-backed Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognized government reignited in July. The rebel group also launched numerous attacks on Saudi territory.
Government forces said Sunday they struck Houthi targets across Yemen, while the Houthis claimed the attack on the oil facility near Riyadh.
Gen. Turki al-Maliki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, told the Saudi-owned media outlet Asharq al-Awsat late Saturday the Houthis were "chasing imaginary victories."
He told the Britain-based outlet they struggled in Taiz, Yemen's third-most populous city, largely held by government forces.
Earlier Saturday, the Houthis claimed to have attacked a site south of Riyadh belonging to Saudi oil giant Aramco.
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported flames and smoke were rising from the facility, but Saudi authorities have not commented.
Last month, the Houthis also claimed to have attacked an oil facility in the Saudi port city of Yanbu, a major oil terminal on the Red Sea.
After several years of calm, Yemen plunged back into civil war in July, pitting the Houthis, who control most of northwest Yemen including the capital Sanaa, against the country's government and its longtime Saudi backers.
The government, based in Aden, controls much of Yemen's south and east – a larger but less populated region.
Fighting has intensified. The Houthis launched a lightning offensive last month, seizing coastal regions along the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
They have also struck targets inside Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, and announced a naval blockade of its ships in the Red Sea.
Recent fighting has centered on Taiz. While the Houthis have conquered swaths of territory, they have yet to wrest control of Taiz from the government.
