The Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-backed Houthis exchanged strikes on Sunday as fighting raged in the escalating conflict that has disrupted the lives of residents in Riyadh, the kingdom’s capital, and war-ravaged Yemen.
Disruptions in the world’s top crude oil exporter continued to spread as the Houthis continue their strikes, with Riyadh’s iconic Kingdom Center skyscraper ordering remote working until further notice for office tenants on Sunday.
No reason was given for the order, but it follows a security alert and two drone interceptions around the capital, in addition to waves of Houthi attacks on Saudi targets in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognized government has launched repeated air raids on Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.
A suspected Saudi airstrike on Sunday in Yemen’s northern Saada governorate killed at least nine people and injured 16 others, the Houthis’ Saba news agency reported.
The coalition also claimed on Sunday that two pilots had been killed in the crash of their helicopter in Najran, near the Yemeni border, while the Houthis claimed to have “downed an Apache helicopter belonging to the Saudi enemy” in the same area.
The coalition blamed the incident on a “technical malfunction”, which caused its first military deaths since the resumption of the long war against the Houthis in July.
Schools in and around the Saudi capital have also extended online learning for a second week, while Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport remains closed after 13 people were killed in a major attack last week.
The war that the Saudi coalition has waged for more than a decade against the Iran-backed Houthis has resumed with ferocity in the U.S.-Iran war, with regular attacks reported by both sides.
The Egyptian Parliament postponed a vote on Sunday on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request to authorize military support for Saudi Arabia, two MPs told AFP, extending the deliberations until Monday.
And Iran’s new Defense Minister, Mehrdad Akhlaghi, threatened to inflict “enormous damage” on the United States and its allies if Washington resumed its military campaign.
– ‘Until further notice’ –
Tenants at the Kingdom Centre, which dominates central Riyadh, include financial services giant Merril Lynch, management consultancy McKinsey and the International Monetary Fund.
“Please note that remote working arrangements are mandatory for all Kingdom Center office employees, effective immediately and until further notice,” building management said in an email seen by AFP.
The shopping center at the foot of the building remains open.
After an uneasy four-year truce, Yemen’s conflict reignited and intensified when the group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month.
The Houthis have struck Saudi targets, including tankers in the Red Sea, oil installations and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport.
A Houthi projectile injured at least six people in southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday after hitting a residential area in Najran, near the border with Yemen, according to the kingdom’s civil defense agency.
The coalition also said two ballistic missiles had been intercepted in the south of the kingdom. Threat alerts for the city of Najran and As Sulayyil governorate in Riyadh province were issued but quickly canceled on Sunday.
– Support from Egypt –
The Houthis declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia and captured territory around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a chokepoint of the Red Sea and a vital export route for Saudi oil since Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf.
Egypt’s parliament held an emergency session on Sunday after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi asked lawmakers to authorize support for Saudi Arabia’s defense against Houthi attacks.
The session was extended until Monday “to give all legislators the opportunity to speak and express their views,” one of them told AFP.
Sissi declared himself ready to “take any measures to protect” Saudi Arabia if its leaders requested it.
Hostilities were the focus of a meeting Sunday between Russian and Saudi foreign ministers on the sidelines of the summit between Gulf states and Russia in Manama, Bahrain.
They discussed “regional developments, particularly the escalation in Yemen, as well as continued threats to shipping in the Straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said on X.
Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman also wrote on X that he met with UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, with whom they discussed regional developments.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot is due to arrive in Riyadh on Sunday evening ahead of President Emmanuel Macron’s tour of the Gulf where he is expected to reaffirm Paris’ support for the kingdom.
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