Saudi Arabia issues first Riyadh air raid alerts as Houthi attacks escalate

Riyadh woke to air raid sirens on Friday night and Saturday morning—the first time in months that residents of Saudi Arabia's capital heard such alerts. Explosions followed. Journalists working for Reuters and AFP reported hearing the blasts. Within hours, authorities issued an all-clear, and the immediate danger passed. But the incident marked a sharp escalation in a conflict that has been building since July, when the Iran-backed Houthis declared what they called a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia and began seizing control of critical shipping lanes in the Red Sea.

The Houthis' recent moves have been strategically calculated. In the past weeks, they took control of Mokha, a port city of significant importance, and Perim Island, which sits at the entrance to a vital shipping corridor. This waterway matters enormously to Saudi Arabia—it is one of the few routes through which the kingdom can export oil to Asia and Europe, especially now that the Strait of Hormuz, another major passage, has become effectively closed due to tensions between the US, Israel, and Iran. The group's military spokesman framed the blockade as retaliation for Saudi Arabia's own blockade of ports and airports in Houthi-controlled areas of northwestern Yemen.

The military pressure has been relentless. Last week alone, the Houthis launched drones and missiles at several Saudi oil facilities, igniting fires that forced temporary shutdowns of operations. A Houthi military spokesman said these strikes were in response to more than 450 Saudi air strikes on Houthi territory over the previous seven days. The attacks on Saudi energy infrastructure have rippled outward: global oil markets have reacted sharply, and the price of petrol and diesel has climbed steeply in countries around the world, adding to costs already elevated by the Red Sea blockades.

The crisis has caught the attention of the highest levels of government. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom's de facto ruler, has personally asked US President Donald Trump to authorize direct military action against the Houthis, according to two sources who spoke to CBS News. Trump has declined to commit American forces to combat operations. Instead, the Trump administration has offered to provide intelligence and targeting assistance. A senior official told the BBC that the US remains in continuous dialogue with Saudi Arabia and Yemen's government about regional stability, but stopped short of committing to military intervention.

The United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting on Tuesday to address the crisis. Both Saudi Arabia and Yemen's government called for stronger action against the Houthis, accusing the group of deliberately choking the Bab al-Mandab Strait—the narrow waterway connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean—as a tool of economic coercion. Council members agreed that maintaining freedom of navigation in the Red Sea is essential to prevent disruption to global supply chains. Yet no consensus emerged on how to enforce that principle.

Behind this immediate conflict lies a longer catastrophe. Yemen has been torn by civil war since 2014, when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and ousted the government. Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab states intervened in 2015 to try to restore the government's authority. The fighting that followed has killed more than 150,000 people and created what the United Nations describes as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. More than 22 million Yemenis—roughly three-quarters of the population—now depend on some form of aid to survive. The air raid alerts in Riyadh, the explosions heard by journalists, and the global spike in energy prices are all symptoms of a much deeper wound.