Saudi Arabia warns it will react ‘firmly’ to Houthi attacks
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SANAA – Saudi Arabia vowed on Sept 15 to respond “firmly” to attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, after the Iran-backed fighters wounded 13 people in the kingdom in an assault using ballistic missiles and drones.
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fighters → warn → missiles
The Houthis have been engaged in renewed fighting with Saudi-backed government forces since Yemen’s civil war reignited in July, when the group declared a maritime blockade on Riyadh and began targeting its ships in the Red Sea.
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group → engage → Sea
The group seized control of Yemen’s Red Sea coast and the Bab al-Mandab Strait last week, which has become vital as the wider US-Iran war chokes the Strait of Hormuz.
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war → seize → Hormuz
The Houthis have also targeted the oil infrastructure of Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading crude exporter, pushing oil prices above the US$100 threshold.
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Houthis → target → threshold
A Houthi strike in western Yemen on Sept 14 killed eight government soldiers, according to two military sources.
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strike → kill → sources
The Houthis also claimed a new “large-scale” attack using “dozens of ballistic missiles and drones” against the King Khalid airbase in Khamis Mushait, in southern Saudi Arabia.
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Houthis → claim → Arabia
A Khamis Mushait resident told AFP he heard “intense blasts” which left fires burning for a “long time”.
“Honestly, we couldn’t sleep at all.”
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we → tell → time
In the early hours of Sept 15, Saudi civil defence issued air-raid alerts in six regions, before lifting them.
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defence → issue → them
The Riyadh-led coalition confirmed on Sept 15 there had been missile and drone attacks the previous day on Khamis Mushait, Abha and Taif, reporting 13 civilians wounded and damage to seven houses and two vehicles.
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coalition → lead → houses
Riyadh responded with more than 50 strikes, as it had the day before, according to the Houthis.
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it → respond → Houthis
The coalition said it would deal with the attacks “firmly to protect the sovereignty of the Kingdom” and would take “all necessary operational measures to deter this... hostile and extremist approach”.
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it → say → approach
While Saudi Arabia has conducted dozens of airstrikes on Houthi-held areas, it has failed so far to deter the fighters’ lightning offensive.
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it → conduct → offensive
Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was expected to hold talks with Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sept 15.
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ruler → expect → Sept
US media reported last week that President Donald Trump had rejected a personal request from the Saudi crown prince to intervene in the war.
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Trump → report → war
Hazem al-Assad from the Houthis’ politburo said the “Yemeni response will continue and escalate as long as they (Saudi Arabia) persist in their aggression against our people”.
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they → say → people
The renewed fighting in Yemen comes as the wider regional war remains at a stalemate.
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war → renew → stalemate
But Trump on Sept 14 said he was open to holding talks with Iran.
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he → say → Iran
“The failing Nation of Iran wants to make a deal, quickly and badly.
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Nation → fail → deal
I will determine whether or not the U.S.A. will choose to engage – The concept of which we are open to,” Trump said on his Truth Social network.
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Trump → determine → network
Iran’s top security chief Mohsen Rezaei said on X that “there will be no negotiations until Iran’s conditions are met.
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conditions → say → X
That is all there is to it”.
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That → be → it
Tehran has repeatedly listed demands including war reparations and the lifting of sanctions as preconditions for ending the war and its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
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Tehran → list → Hormuz
Wider regional war
A proposed meeting between Gulf states and Iran over the future of Hormuz was postponed on Sept 14, with Tehran accusing Riyadh of using Yemen as a “pretext” to delay the talks.
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Tehran → propose → talks
Tehran has long supported the Houthis, a member of its anti-Israel “axis of resistance”, including with weapons and technology, but analysts dispute the extent to which Iran is behind the renewed fighting.
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Iran → support → fighting
“Iran does not interfere in Yemeni affairs,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told reporters on Sept 14, saying the Houthis are “entirely independent actors who make their decisions based on their own interests”.
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who → interfere → interests
The Houthis seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014 at the outset of the civil war, driving the government to Aden in the south.
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Houthis → seize → south
The following year, Saudi Arabia led a coalition to intervene on the side of the government, launching wave after wave of airstrikes as the conflict escalated into one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.
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conflict → lead → world
The UN’s migration agency said on Sept 14 the renewed fighting in the Arab world’s poorest country had forced 93,864 people to flee their homes.
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fighting → say → homes
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