Saudi forces strike Saada and Hajjah provinces in Yemen with missiles; the coalition calls the Houthis’ claim of an attack on Riyadh “deceptive”

Saudi forces have carried out missile attacks on border areas in the Haydan district of the northern province of Saada, as well as a second attack in the Abs district in the northwest of Hajjah province, the Houthi-linked Al Masirah television reported on Sunday, as Al Jazeera writes in its live blog on the war in Iran. So far there has been no immediate comment from Saudi Arabia on these attacks.

The attacks come at a moment of high tension, after the Houthis earlier claimed they had struck an Aramco plant near Riyadh with ballistic missiles and drones, with photographs showing flames and thick smoke rising from the refinery.

But the Saudi-led coalition, which is fighting in support of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, called these claims “deceptive”. The coalition spokesman, General Turki al-Malki, told the newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat that the Houthis “are trying to draw attention away from the scale of their losses and the growing public anger against them”.

“What the Houthis are facing in Taiz, and the human losses suffered by members of the group at the hands of the heroes of the Yemeni armed forces and the Popular Resistance on all fronts, pushes them to seek imaginary victories,” he added, according to Al Jazeera.

The latest developments in Yemen show an intensification of the war on both fronts: Yemeni government forces said they have carried out 97 “precision strike operations” against Houthi positions in Taiz and Lahij provinces, while fighting around the city of Taiz has killed and wounded hundreds of people over the past week.