Yemen's Houthis issued evacuation warnings for sites in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday after the Saudi-led coalition warned of a planned operation in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree urged civilians to evacuate Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, the company’s Riyadh refinery and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The warnings followed Saree’s threat to retaliate against Riyadh if the coalition struck Sanaa. “Any targets in the capital Sanaa will be met with a harsh and painful response in the Saudi enemy's capital, Riyadh,” he said earlier on Tuesday.
Saudi coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Maliki said on Tuesday that the coalition would issue an evacuation warning ahead of a planned “precision operation.” He later urged civilians to evacuate the Al-Sabah station, posting a map of the site on X.
Local media later reported hearing blasts in Sanaa. Footage circulating on X appeared to show plumes of smoke rising from the Yemen Petroleum Company’s Al-Sabah Central Station on the western outskirts of the capital. As of publication, the coalition had not confirmed whether it had carried out strikes on the facility or elsewhere in Sanaa.