Ansar Allah announced on Thursday that its forces launched another wave of missile and drone attacks targeting the Saudi capital of Riyadh and oil infrastructure in Yanbu on Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast as the war continues to escalate.
Ansar Allah military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement that Yemeni forces carried out “successful operations” targeting Riyadh and Yanbu. At this point, the extent of the damage is unclear, and Saudi Arabia has only said that its forces shot down six ballistic missiles fired from Yemen, including some that were fired at Yanbu.
Saree said that the attacks were launched in response to Saudi strikes on Yemeni territory, which have been killing an increasing number of civilians.
Saree wrote on Telegram that since the recent escalations in Yemen, there have been “1018 airstrikes and missile attacks using F-15 and Typhoon aircraft that took off from the Khamis Mushait and Taif airbases, and missile attacks from Najran and Jizan targeting the governorates of Ma’rib and Sa’dah, Taiz, Al-Jawf, and Al-Bayda, leaving martyrs and wounded, including women and children, and causing damage to civilian infrastructure.”
Earlier in the day, Saree claimed that an Ansar Allah missile attack launched the night before that targeted the al-Tuwal area of Jizan, southern Saudi Arabia, and resulted in the “death and injury of hundreds of Saudi enemy reinforcement troops, including Yemenis and Sudanese, along with dozens of Saudi enemy personnel and officers.” So far, the casualties have not been confirmed by the Saudi side.
Saree said that Ansar Allah would continue “to enforce the equation of ‘a siege for a siege’ and ‘an escalation for an escalation,’ targeting the Saudi enemy’s troop buildups until the aggression ceases and the siege on our beloved country is lifted.”
Ansar Allah first imposed a blockade on Saudi shipping and began targeting Saudi oil infrastructure following the July 13 Saudi airstrikes on the Sanaa International Airport, which were meant to stop a plane flying from Iran as enforcement of a long-standing blockade that was eased by a 2022 ceasefire deal but never fully lifted.
President Trump reportedly gave Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman the green light to escalate in Yemen before the July 13 strikes, and the US is providing targeting and intelligence support for the Saudi bombing campaign but has so far refrained from launching direct strikes against Ansar Allah, as a US-Ansar Allah ceasefire reached in May 2025 still remains in effect.
