The Saudi-led military coalition said Thursday it intercepted a cruise missile over Medina province, home to the second-holiest city in Islam, according to Breitbart News. The coalition did not directly blame the Iran-backed Houthi movement for the launch, but Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree moved quickly to deny responsibility, calling the Saudi account a fabrication.
“What the Saudi enemy claims regarding targeting toward the city of Medina is a great and immense falsehood,” Saree said at a press conference.
The denial follows a familiar pattern. Earlier this month, the Saudis accused the Houthis by name of striking an electric power distribution station in Medina. The Houthis dismissed that allegation as a “lie.” And on September 15, the group likewise denied launching a drone at Mecca, Islam’s holiest city, an attack that drew furious condemnation from nearly every Muslim nation except Iran.
A widening air campaign
While the Houthis reject allegations tied to Islam’s two holiest sites, they have openly claimed responsibility for strikes on civilian targets elsewhere in Saudi Arabia. On Thursday, the Saudi coalition released additional footage documenting roughly 20 drone and missile attacks on King Khalid Airport in Riyadh between October 1 and 11.
Saree said one of those missiles scored a “precise and direct hit” on the Riyadh airport. He also repeated the Houthis’ warning that Saudi airspace is now unsafe for all airlines, and promised further attacks on oil facilities and airports “deep inside Saudi Arabia.”
The threat has already rippled through international travel. On Wednesday, the French government “strictly advised” its citizens against using King Khalid International Airport, along with two other major Saudi airports in Jeddah and Dammam that have come under Houthi attack. Paris went further, cautioning against travel to Riyadh, Jeddah, or Dammam at all “unless necessary.”
Strike on Aden’s presidential palace
The Houthis also turned their fire on territory held by Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Yemen’s information minister, Moammar al-Eryani, said the group launched a “terrorist” attack on the presidential palace in Aden, the southern port city that has served as the government’s headquarters for much of the period since the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.
Eryani said the assault involved at least five ballistic missiles. The Houthis described the target differently, saying they were striking a military base and ammunition depot used by Saudi troops inside the palace compound.
The Yemeni government acknowledged the attack and said several security personnel at the palace were killed or wounded. In a statement, it vowed that “Aden will remain the hub for the operations of state institutions as they carry out their duties towards citizens.”
Eryani sought to reassure the public about the safety of Yemen’s leadership. “We reassure the sons of our Yemeni people that the Prime Minister and all members of the government are safe and well,” he said.
Claims of a downed Saudi fighter
Lebanese media on Wednesday night quoted Saree claiming the Houthis destroyed a Saudi Typhoon fighter jet with a surface-to-air missile as it prepared to bomb Houthi positions in Yemen. According to Saree, Saudi forces carried out 42 air and missile strikes in Yemen on Wednesday, targeting what he described as civilian sites in Sanaa and several other cities.
The competing accounts from Riyadh and the Houthi leadership could not be independently verified, and neither side’s casualty or operational claims have been confirmed by outside observers.
Taken together, the developments point to an intensifying cycle of attack and retaliation that has increasingly pulled in civilian infrastructure — airports, power stations, and oil facilities — and drawn in foreign governments now weighing the safety of their citizens traveling through the kingdom.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2026/10/15/saudis-accuse-iran-backed-houthi-terrorists-of-attacking-islams-holy-city-of-medina/