Saudi Civil Defense Raises and Lifts Potential Danger Warnings in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense issued alerts early Saturday warning of potential danger in Riyadh and the nearby city of Al-Kharj, before sending an all-clear just minutes later, as attacks from Iran-aligned Houthi forces against the Kingdom continue to intensify. A similar alert was issued for the Farasan Islands in the southwest, though the exact nature of the threat wasn’t immediately specified.
The alert marked an unusual moment for the Saudi capital, where residents received mobile phone warnings of potential danger followed shortly by a second notice saying the threat had passed. Civil Defense had issued comparable alerts across several parts of the Kingdom on Friday, including Jeddah and Taif in Makkah province, Khamis Mushayt in Asir province, and AlUla in Madinah province.
The latest warnings came hours after Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had foiled what he called criminal attempts it attributed to Saudi Arabia in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and vowed a response, according to Reuters. The Houthis, who control Sanaa and much of northern and western Yemen, have sharply escalated drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia in recent weeks as fighting inside Yemen has intensified, building on a naval blockade the group announced in July targeting vessels linked to Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea.
The attacks have increasingly reached populated areas and critical infrastructure inside the Kingdom. On Thursday, debris from an intercepted Houthi drone fell in Taif, killing a Yemeni resident and injuring a Saudi woman along with a Pakistani resident who was critically hurt, while also damaging several buildings and vehicles. That came two days after Saudi air defenses intercepted a drone south of Makkah that authorities said was attempting to enter the holy city’s airspace, an incident Saudi officials described as a major escalation; the Houthis denied targeting Makkah, according to Reuters. Earlier this month, Houthi attacks on southern Saudi Arabia injured dozens of people and damaged energy infrastructure, according to Saudi authorities, marking the most serious escalation since a UN-brokered truce halted large-scale fighting in Yemen in 2022.
Saudi Arabia has also faced attacks from Iran-aligned militias based in Iraq. On September 11, the Kingdom temporarily shut down its East-West Pipeline after several drones struck the Riyadh and Madinah regions, injuring a number of people; Saudi officials said the drones had been launched from Iraq and gave Baghdad an opportunity to take steps to prevent further attacks. The pipeline holds particular strategic importance because it allows Saudi oil exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, a route that has already faced disruption from the wider regional conflict.
The escalation comes as fighting intensifies along Yemen’s Red Sea coast. The UN’s migration agency said Friday that at least 112,000 people have recently been displaced inside Yemen, while nearly 3,000 others have fled by sea to Djibouti. The Houthis’ expanding presence along the coast has also raised concern over the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, a critical maritime chokepoint linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and a major route for global energy and commercial shipping.
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