'Hostile aerial threat' warning sent to Riyadh residents

Saudi authorities sent brief alerts to residents of the capital Riyadh on Monday, with AFP journalists receiving phone messages warning of "a hostile aerial threat" weeks into intensified Houthi attacks on the kingdom.

Hours later, Yemen's Houthis claimed a series of missile and drone attacks on Riyadh's international airport and other targets across Saudi Arabia over the past two days.

"A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Riyadh City to alert of a potential danger," Saudi civil defence said in a statement on X, also reporting the same warning for the nearby Kharj area.

Shortly after, the warning, which often signals incoming Houthi attacks, was lifted.

A woman in her thirties living in northern Riyadh said she heard the sound of explosions, adding: "we got used to this".

In a statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had carried out six military operations over the previous 48 hours using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.

Saree said the attacks targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh as well as Aramco facilities in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast and the Shaybah oil field near the border with the United Arab Emirates.

He said other strikes hit Abha International Airport, radar installations and Khamis Mushait air base in southwestern Saudi Arabia, as well as a Saudi naval force camp and a separate radar site in Bir Askar in the kingdom's south.

The attack on Riyadh airport was carried out in three stages and achieved "accurate and direct" strikes, Saree said, describing the operations as retaliation for more than 200 Saudi strikes and missile attacks on Houthi-held areas over the previous 48 hours.

He said the group would continue operations "towards the Saudi interior" and pursue a policy of "escalation for escalation" until attacks on Yemen cease.

The attacks come amid a sharp escalation in hostilities between the Iran-backed group and Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis has launched daily raids in Yemen in support of the internationally recognised government in the country's long-running civil war.

The conflict, dormant for years, erupted again in July and intensified after the Iran-backed group seized the Red Sea coast last month.

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi targets in recent weeks, including vessels in the Red Sea, oil facilities and Riyadh's airport, where 13 people were killed in a single attack last week.