Wire reporting: (Reuters, via Al-Monitor)

RIYADH — Saudi-led coalition statements said air defenses intercepted Houthi missiles and drones aimed at Riyadh and other parts of the kingdom this week, while a Houthi spokesman denied that Mecca was a target^1,5,6.

Al-Monitor carried a Reuters dispatch dated Nov. 11 saying the coalition reported destroying three cruise missiles headed to the Riyadh region, two drones aimed at Mecca and southern areas, and two missiles pointed west¹. Middle East Eye, citing the coalition, separately reported three cruise missiles toward Riyadh destroyed on Wednesday, the second straight day of intercepts toward the capital⁵.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree denied targeting Mecca with a drone and said the group’s operations are aimed at oil facilities and military bases, according to that Reuters-sourced account¹. Saree also said the Houthis had attacked a pumping station in Yanbu; the same report said there was no Saudi confirmation¹.

Saudi civil defence issued then lifted danger alerts for Taif, Yanbu and Khamis Mushait on Wednesday, state television reported, according to Al-Monitor¹. On Nov. 12, Middle East Eye reported the coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a drone in the Riyadh region².

Earlier in the week, the coalition said it downed missiles toward Riyadh after a Houthi attack that damaged an Aramco administrative building in the capital^5,6,9,10. Riyadh Deputy Gov. Prince Mohammed bin Abdulrahman inspected that building and described limited damage to civilian facilities⁹. Arab News quoted coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki saying defenses also intercepted a drone in the Eastern Region and a ballistic missile toward the south, and that coalition strikes had hit three sites the coalition described as Houthi ballistic-missile production facilities¹².

Al-Monitor’s Reuters copy placed the latest exchanges in a wider fight that intensified after Houthi moves toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in September, with both sides striking airports, ports, oil sites and targets in Yemen¹. Independent confirmation of each intercept, of any Yanbu hit, and of the scale of damage at claimed factory sites was not in the pages reviewed here.

Al Jazeera, citing news agencies and Reuters, said on Nov. 12 the coalition reported intercepting suspected Houthi drones over the Riyadh region and Eastern Province, and that the U.N. Security Council unanimously extended Yemen-related sanctions for a year while demanding an end to Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia¹³. The same report said Saree claimed strikes on oil and military sites including Yanbu, Sharurah airport, Khamis Mushait airbase and Aramco’s Riyadh headquarters; those hits were not independently confirmed in the pages reviewed¹³.