Saudi forces say intercepted two Houthi missiles targeting Yanbu, Taif

RIYADH (AFP) -- The Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen announced on Saturday that it had intercepted two missiles fired by the Houthis towards Taif and Yanbu, in the kingdom’s west.

It came shortly after Riyadh’s civil defence agency broadcast warnings of “potential danger” for four western regions, including Taif and Yanbu as well Makkah, home to Islam’s holiest city, and Yanbu.

The alerts were all rescinded minutes later.

The Gulf kingdom has come under repeated attack from Yemen’s Houthis in recent weeks as part of the latter country’s revived civil war.

The group has targeted the kingdom’s oil infrastructure as well as its airports.

Yanbu is a major oil export hub on the Red Sea coast that has allowed Riyadh to bypass Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for much of its crude exports.

An attack on Riyadh airport earlier this month killed 13 people and wounded dozens more.

Riyadh leads a military coalition that first intervened in the conflict, which has devastated Yemen and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, in 2015.

The war had been dormant since a ceasefire in 2022, but erupted again in July as the wider Middle East war roiled the region.