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Yemen’s Houthi group said Saturday that it shot down a Saudi Apache attack helicopter near the border, and the Saudi-led coalition said early Sunday that it intercepted two Houthi ballistic missiles fired toward southwestern Saudi Arabia, as fighting between the two sides continued.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group’s forces brought down the helicopter near the Najran region in southern Saudi Arabia while it was targeting Houthi positions along the frontier.
In a statement carried by the Houthi-run version of Yemen’s Saba news agency, Saree said the aircraft was carrying out “hostile operations” against those positions.
Saudi officials did not immediately comment on the claim, and it could not be independently verified.
The Apache is a US-made attack helicopter, and Najran lies on the border with Yemen.
Hours later, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said on the social media platform X that coalition forces had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward Khamis Mushait, a city in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Shortly before his announcement, Saudi Civil Defense issued “potential danger” alerts through the national early warning system for the capital Riyadh and for the southwestern cities of Abha and Khamis Mushait. The agency later said the danger had passed.
Earlier Saturday, al-Maliki said coalition forces had intercepted and destroyed four drones over several hours across the Riyadh region, the Eastern Province and southern Saudi Arabia.
The coalition also released footage it said showed strikes destroying two ballistic missile launchers in Saada, in northern Yemen. It said the launchers had been used to fire missiles toward Saudi Arabia.
The latest developments come amid a military escalation between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis that began in July. The Houthis have struck targets inside the kingdom since then, including civilian aviation facilities and energy infrastructure. The fighting followed the breakdown of a truce reached in 2022.
Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several other provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 in support of the country’s internationally recognized government. The Houthis still control Sanaa and a number of other provinces.
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