The military coalition for Yemen led by Saudi Arabia reported early Tuesday morning a new wave of attacks attributed to Houthi rebel militias against three Saudi cities in the southwest and west of the country. According to their preliminary balance, the offensives would have left thirteen civilians injured and various material damages, in a context of a strong resurgence of violence marked by the Houthi offensive to control the city of Mocha and other strategic enclaves on the Red Sea coast.
"The militia launched attacks against civilian targets in the cities of Khamis Mushait, Abha (both in southwestern Saudi Arabia, near the border with Yemen) and Taif (in the east, almost 600 kilometers further north) using several ballistic missiles and drones," said the official spokesman for the aforementioned coalition forces, Turki al Maliki, in a statement disseminated on social media.
The spokesman detailed that these attacks "have caused injuries of varying severity, from mild to moderate, to thirteen civilians," in addition to causing "damage to seven homes and two vehicles." The coalition authorities have not reported any fatalities at the moment, but have emphasized the deliberate nature of the attacks against infrastructure and inhabited areas.
Al Maliki emphasized that "the Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will respond to these attacks with responsibility and firmness to protect the sovereignty of the Kingdom, as well as civilian objectives and the civilian population, against these atrocious aggressions," while invoking "Article 51 of the United Nations Charter (which recognizes the inherent right of States to individual or collective self-defense in the event of armed attack), the principle of legitimate defense, and customary International Humanitarian Law."
In this line, the representative of the coalition insisted that the high command "will adopt all necessary operational measures to deter this terrorist militia and confront its hostile and extremist approach," leaving the door open to new military responses within the framework of the Yemeni conflict.
The communication from the coalition led by Riyadh has coincided in time with the activation of alerts by the Saudi Civil Defense in several areas of the country. The agency has sent warnings to the population of the provinces of Taif, Jeddah, Yazan, Al Ula, and Yanbu, as well as to residents in the city of Abha. All these warnings, except for the one in Jeddah —which remains in effect—, have been canceled approximately half an hour after their issuance.
The emergency messages urged citizens to follow a series of safety recommendations, including "immediately go to the nearest safe place, such as the interior of a building or a room away from windows, and stay there until the danger has passed," "not to leave" their homes, to stay "away from open areas and glass," and to avoid remaining on balconies or rooftops. For those who found themselves outdoors without immediate access to a building, the Civil Defense advised "to take shelter behind a solid cover."