Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense lifted an alert it had announced in the southern city of Khamis Mushait on Wednesday, a day after Houthi attacks there and in three other nearby cities wounded 73 people and set oil installations ablaze.
A building stands damaged in the aftermath of Houthi strikes, in a location given as Saudi Arabia, in this still image taken from a video released on September 8, 2026. Saudi Press Agency
Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense lifted an alert it had announced in the southern city of Khamis Mushait on Wednesday, a day after Houthi attacks there and in three other nearby cities wounded 73 people and set oil installations ablaze.
Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis struck an airbase in Khamis Mushait and oil infrastructure in the nearby cities on Tuesday in one of the biggest attacks in Saudi Arabia since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in February.
Saudi authorities did not provide details for the reasons behind Wednesday's alert in Khamis Mushait.
Fighting between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis has escalated in recent months, raising fears of a return to broader conflict after a U.N.-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted years of war.
Saudi Arabia leads an Arab coalition that backs a government based in Yemen's south, which was driven from the capital Sanaa by the Houthis 12 years ago. The conflict has become a theatre in the wider regional war, with the Houthis close allies of Iran and Saudi Arabia an ally of the United States.
The Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea in July, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to strike what it said were Houthi military facilities in Yemen.
In recent days, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have launched a multi-pronged offensive on Houthi-held areas after the group attempted to advance on government positions. The government says it aims to recapture all Houthi-held territory.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV, citing the group's health ministry, said at least 21 people had been killed in Saudi strikes on Yemen's Al Jawf over the past two days. Saudi Arabia has not announced or confirmed carrying out strikes there.
Saudi Arabia has described the Houthi attacks as a dangerous escalation, while the Saudi-led coalition has said it would take measures to deter further attacks. The Houthis say their strikes are in response to Saudi escalation in Yemen.
Reporting by Jana Choukeir
Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it fired ballistic missiles at a base in Jordan used by the U.S. military and attacked 10 ships on Wednesday, after the U.S. said it had destroyed five Iranian oil tankers, in a sharp escalation of the six-month-old war.
Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthis attacked four cities in the south of U.S. ally Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, wounding more than 70 people and setting oil installations ablaze in what appeared to be a major expansion of the six-month-old Middle East war.
Britain on Tuesday published legislation to introduce tougher sanctions on Iran, expanding trade restrictions and powers to target ships as part of what it described as a wider effort to curb Tehran's nuclear programme and other hostile activities.
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