Saudi-Houthi strikes continue with more threats to infrastructure

Fighting between the Saudi-led coalition and Yemen's Houthi group continued on Wednesday as the Houthis warned of strikes "deep inside Saudi Arabia."

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree announced on X a "precise and direct" hit with a ballistic missile on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

It came hours after the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh. Loud explosions were heard in the Saudi capital earlier in the day, while residents received aerial-threat alerts on mobile apps.

Earlier in the day, Saree claimed a large-scale missile and drone attack targeting Saudi energy giant Aramco in Dhahran in the Eastern Province, as well as King Khalid International Airport and an Aramco refinery in Riyadh. He said the operation was carried out in retaliation for Saudi strikes.

Saree vowed that the group's attacks "deep inside Saudi Arabia" targeting airports and oil facilities would continue in the coming days.

Late Wednesday, he said the Houthis had struck a Saudi Typhoon fighter jet with a surface-to-air missile over the northern Yemeni province of Saada. There was no immediate comment from Saudi authorities.

Saree also said that Saudi-led coalition warplanes and missiles launched 42 strikes on what he described as civilian facilities in the capital Sanaa and Taiz, Lahj, Marib and Amran provinces, as well as Mayyun Island in the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

Majid Al-Nuzaili, spokesperson for Yemen's government forces, said they had carried out 2,309 "precise and direct" hits against Houthi positions by warplanes, drones, field artillery, rocket launchers and sniper units.

Al-Nuzaili claimed the operations had neutralized about 1,250 Houthi fighters and destroyed or damaged more than 460 military vehicles and other equipment.

The Red Cross said on Wednesday that hospitals across Yemen are struggling to cope with a sharp rise in casualties as fighting intensified on multiple front lines.

The UN World Food Program warned that life-saving assistance had been cut off to the government-held city of Taiz, which was encircled by Houthi fighters earlier this month.

"WFP and its partners cannot access more than 600,000 people in Taiz who depend on humanitarian assistance, including more than 200,000 women and children," WFP said in a statement.

Tensions have also persisted around the Strait of Hormuz, a strategic waterway for global energy shipments.

The US military said on Wednesday that it had destroyed an Iranian-affiliated ship in the Gulf of Oman on October 6, alleging that the vessel had been conducting surveillance on and targeting US Navy ships.

"Crew members were safely removed prior to destruction of the dhow. Repatriation efforts are ongoing," the US Central Command said in a post on X.

Iran did not immediately comment on the US military's statement.

Separately, Hossein Mohebi, spokesperson for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told reporters on Wednesday that Iran was prepared to respond to any renewed aggression with greater force than ever before.

His remarks came amid media reports that Israel and the US had considered launching new strikes against Iran ahead of Israel's Knesset elections scheduled for late October.

Mohebi said that while launching a new war against Iran would be irrational for the US, the possibility of such a conflict remained real.