RIYADH / SANAA, Oct. 4 (TodayViralUSA) — Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed a missile and drone strike on an oil facility near the Saudi capital on Saturday, as Saudi-backed forces intensified air attacks on the Houthi-held city of Sanaa, deepening a conflict that has already worsened Yemen’s humanitarian crisis.
An Agence France-Presse journalist in Saudi Arabia reported flames and smoke rising Saturday afternoon from an Aramco facility south of Riyadh, with firefighters, ambulances and police at the scene. Late Saturday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had hit an oil site in Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones and that fires had broken out. Saudi authorities had not publicly confirmed details of the incident by early Sunday.
In Sanaa, Houthi-affiliated Al-Masirah television said Saudi aircraft carried out dozens of strikes on the capital. Correspondents in the city reported explosions and warplanes releasing munitions. The Houthis also accused Riyadh of hitting telecommunications networks in the northwestern Saada governorate, a Houthi stronghold.
The exchange follows a sharper turn in fighting that reignited in July after years of relative calm. Hostilities resumed after an Iranian flight carrying a Houthi delegation landed in Sanaa without the authorization Saudi Arabia had long required. Riyadh struck Sanaa airport; the Houthis answered with attacks on Saudi territory for the first time since 2022 and later seized stretches of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including approaches to the Bab al-Mandab strait, while announcing a naval blockade on Saudi shipping.
Ground fighting has been intense around Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, where both sides reported dozens of combatant deaths on Friday. The Houthis said 55 of their fighters were killed; government sources told AFP that 26 troops died. The internationally recognized government, based in Aden, still holds Taiz city itself even as surrounding highlands and nearby coastal areas have changed hands.
Aid agencies warn the renewed war is compounding hunger in one of the world’s poorest countries. The World Food Programme said Friday that three-quarters of Yemen’s population cannot meet basic food needs. Saudi Arabia has reportedly sought U.S. assistance; President Donald Trump has so far rebuffed that request, according to regional reporting. U.S. media have separately described senior Trump administration discussions on Yemen alongside the Iran conflict.
Energy markets are watching the Red Sea and Gulf closely after recent tanker incidents and Iran-related supply shocks. Saturday’s claimed strike near Riyadh, if confirmed as a hit on refining capacity, would mark another escalation in a war that already threatens shipping lanes and regional oil infrastructure.
Update: October 4, 2026
Yemen’s Saudi-backed government on Sunday announced a nationwide military campaign to recover all territory held by the Iran-aligned Houthis. In a televised address, President Rashad al-Alimi said he was launching operations to restore the authority of the state and its institutions across the entire country, the BBC reported. The BBC said the announcement was unlikely to have been made without Saudi Arabia’s approval.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Sunday that the group had fired ballistic missiles and drones at Aramco sites in Riyadh and in the oil-producing Khurais area in eastern Saudi Arabia, claiming the strikes caused large fires. Saudi Arabia had not commented on Sunday’s claim. A day earlier, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki described Houthi claims of hitting Riyadh as “misleading,” according to Al Jazeera.
The Saudi-led coalition said early Sunday that it had carried out 97 targeting operations against Houthi reinforcements on the Tor al-Baha front and around Taiz. A spokesman for government forces said the attacks targeted at least 260 Houthi fighters and destroyed or disabled 44 military vehicles. Houthi-run Al-Masirah television said at least two people were wounded in Saudi strikes on Sunday.
On the ground, the Houthis cut the main supply route linking Taiz with Aden, the government’s interim capital, effectively encircling Taiz, AFP reported, citing three Yemeni military sources. Last month a Houthi offensive took control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, including the Bab al-Mandab strait, closing off a route Saudi Arabia could have used to export oil while the Strait of Hormuz remains shut.
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