Houthis vow to keep striking Saudi military sites “until aggression ceases”

• Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group’s forces will keep striking Saudi military targets until the Saudi-led aggression stops and the blockade on Yemen is lifted. 
• The operation was framed as retaliation for more than 300 Saudi air attacks on Yemeni governorates over the preceding five days. 

Yemen's Houthi movement said Monday it will keep hitting Saudi military targets deep inside the kingdom for as long as Riyadh continues its air campaign against Houthi-held territory, following one of the group's largest cross-border operations in years. 

Yahya Saree, military spokesman for the Houthi group, announced that fighters had launched a large-scale operation against King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, southern Saudi Arabia, using dozens of ballistic missiles and drones. 

According to Saree, the operation was aimed at aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots on the base, and he said the strikes hit their targets directly and caused significant damage. 

Retaliation for Saudi airstrikes

The Houthis frame the operation as a response to an intense Saudi bombing campaign in Yemen. Saree said the strike followed 121 Saudi-led coalition airstrikes over the preceding three days on Marib, al-Bayda, Hodeidah, Taiz and al-Jawf. He said those raids were carried out by Saudi F-15 and Typhoon jets flying out of King Fahd Air Base in Taif and King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait.

The exchange marks a major escalation in a conflict that had been largely dormant since a UN-mediated truce took hold in 2022. 

The renewed clashes between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces have effectively shattered that four-year truce.