Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense Directorate on Monday lifted early warnings of potential danger that had been issued for four cities in the kingdom’s south, amid escalating attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi forces in Yemen.
Civil Defense had issued early warnings for the cities of Najran, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Abha. It later lifted two additional early warnings of potential danger for Abha and Khamis Mushait.
The Houthis, who control densely populated areas in northern and other parts of Yemen, have been carrying out attacks against Saudi Arabia since announcing a “naval blockade” of the kingdom in July, targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.
On Saturday evening, Saudi Civil Defense said two people were injured after a projectile launched by the Houthis landed in the border region of Jazan.
Recent fighting in western Yemen has killed hundreds of people and displaced around 86,000 others, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which said more than 2,000 people had left Yemen by sea for Djibouti since Thursday evening.
The conflict in Yemen began in 2014, when the Houthis launched an offensive against government forces and seized large parts of the country, including the capital, Sanaa. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the government forces.
The conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Yemen returned to the forefront of regional tensions in July, amid renewed confrontation between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia against the backdrop of the US-Iran war.
The confrontation began after the Houthis accused Riyadh of bombing Sanaa airport to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing there. They subsequently announced a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and resumed attacks on its vessels and oil facilities, effectively ending a 2022 truce with the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.
Source: Agencies
