The U.S. has warned that hostilities between Saudi Arabia and Iran-backed Houthis could “escalate rapidly” after a Saturday missile targeted Riyadh for the first time since Yemen’s civil war resumed.
President Donald Trump cut short a weekend at Camp David, a secluded presidential complex in rural Maryland, to return unexpectedly to the White House on Saturday.
The White House gave no explanation for the early return, which came as the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis crossed a new threshold. The Houthis control a large part of Yemen and are fighting government forces backed by a coalition led by Riyadh.
Loud explosions rang out twice Saturday in the Saudi capital, where a fuel tank bearing the logo of oil giant Aramco was on fire near the airport, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"This military conflict has the potential to escalate rapidly," the U.S. State Department warned, adding American citizens outside the Middle East should "seriously reconsider travel to and through the region."
The Houthis' lightning offensive seizing large areas of Yemeni territory in recent weeks has left hundreds killed and, according to the U.N., displaced over 110,000 people.
These clashes and the subsequent hostilities with the kingdom have already disrupted Saudi Arabia's exports – the world's leading supplier of crude oil – as well as maritime traffic.
The Riyadh-led coalition confirmed Saturday evening in a post on X that a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward the capital was "successfully intercepted and destroyed."
The coalition added that the pro-Iranian fighters had tried to target "civilians and civilian infrastructure" in several cities in the west of the kingdom, including the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, an important export hub for Saudi oil.
It said these attacks were "thwarted by the kingdom's air defenses."
Saudi Arabia has responded with scores of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas but failed to stop the advance.
The Houthis said they had responded to recent Saudi attacks by carrying out "two successful military operations using a large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones," Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on Telegram.
"The first targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and the second targeted Aramco facilities in Yanbu."
Saudi authorities had earlier issued an overnight air raid alert.
Hours after the early morning alert, residents told AFP anonymously that they heard what sounded like a round of explosions echoing through parts of the Saudi capital.
This is the first time since Yemen's civil war resumed that strikes have threatened the Saudi capital, piling further pressure on a global economy already rocked by seven months of war between the U.S. and Iran.
Riyadh residents received a message just before 3 a.m. urging them to stay indoors and warning, "The area is under a hostile aerial threat."
AFP reported two explosions, before the Saudi civil defense agency lifted the alert 30 minutes later.
"I heard the alarm, then my windows shook," a Riyadh resident said. Another resident described the attack as "terrifying."
The incident comes days after Riyadh accused the Houthis of targeting Mecca Wednesday, denouncing it as a "cowardly terrorist attack" on Islam's holy city, which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year. The Houthis strongly denied the accusation, calling it a "worn-out lie."
The group has reported scores of retaliatory strikes carried out daily by Riyadh since their offensive this month to take over the country's entire Red Sea coast, giving them control over the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The United States, according to U.S. news platform Axios, last week refused a Saudi request to strike the Houthis.
Washington approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to the kingdom Thursday to help Riyadh "deter current and future threats," the U.S. State Department said.
Yemen's civil war broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized control of the capital Sana and other regions, triggering a military intervention led by Saudi Arabia in March 2015.
The fragile truce reached in 2022 between the warring parties collapsed in July, when the Houthis defied Riyadh's control of Yemeni airspace by allowing an Iranian aircraft to land in Yemen.
The apparent attack came as the Houthis improve their defenses in newly conquered territory along Yemen's Red Sea coastline, with members of the group telling AFP they have been installing radar and digging tunnels.
