Houthi War Escalates: Riyadh Strikes Sanaa Oil, As Several Saudi Airports Shuttered

The Saudi coalition, which is calling itself the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, on Tuesday issued a warning for civilians to evacuate a site in Sanaa ahead of a targeted operation. The city has been held by the Houthis going all the way back to 2014, and is the main base of the Iran-aligned government there.

Specifically, civilians are being urged evacuate the Yemen Petroleum Company’s Al-Sabahah central fuel station in Sanaa, and the publication went so far as to issue an illustrative map of the location. There are emerging reports of active bombings of the area.

Additional to this was (on the flip side) a published warning by Ansar Allah on Tuesday for Saudi citizens to ”evacuate” areas near Aramco’s headquarters in Dammam, King Khalid Airport in Riyadh, and Aramco’s Riyadh refinery – which comes amid ongoing reports of the Houthis targeting territory of the kingdom.

The Saudi capital’s international airport of Riyadh has been shuttered since deadly weekend attacks, and expectations are that it will remain closed through at least Saturday, according to a fresh NOTAM issued.

We “call on all citizens to evacuate immediately and stay away from the targets that our armed forces will strike if the Saudi enemy proceeds with its announced plan to target the following sites in the capital, Sanaa,” the Houthi statement said.

Saudi Arabia STRIKES missile and oil facilities in and around the Houthi capital, Sanaa https://t.co/Wq8uAWrCN9

— RT (@RT_com) October 13, 2026

This comes simultaneous to the aforementioned Saudi order telling people to evacuate from near Yemen Oil Company site at Al-Sabaha Central Station in Sanaa.

And so tit-for-tat escalation is expected to continue. Saudi authorities have been warning that a “serious” response would come after at least 13 were killed in multiple strikes on Riyadh’s airport over Saturday and Sunday.

“The events of recent weeks are serious. Our response must be equally serious,” Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman told the WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh – a long planned event which has proceeded despite the threat of Houthi missiles in the air.

The Houthis have indicated they will continue the fight amid the “brutal Saudi aggression” which at the moment is focused on retaking Western Yemen’s Red Sea coastline:

Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council in Yemen, says the “Dawn of Yemen” operation is “proceeding toward its goal of ending the Houthi militias’ coup”.

“There is no turning back, no matter the sacrifices,” said al-Alimi.

BREAKING: Eight Saudi Airports Have Now Been Closed Although Saudi Arabia may still periodically open some of them, this is a major catastrophe for the country. The Saudis have imposed a no-fly zone over Yemen since 2015, now the same is being done to them.

— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) October 13, 2026

So far the US has signaled it is staying on the sidelines of the renewed war, only providing the Saudi coalition with intelligence, and presumably targeting information.