Story summary
On October 5, the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed they had struck Riyadh's international airport, an Aramco refinery, and other sites in Saudi Arabia. In response, the Saudi-led coalition stated that it had destroyed Houthi targets on the Red Sea coast. Pakistan and Turkey pledged to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a new mutual defense pact following weeks of Houthi attacks. The Yemeni military launched more than 1,000 strikes against the Houthis in an offensive aimed at retaking territory held by the group, particularly around Sanaa, the capital. A source from the Saudi energy sector reported that an attack on October 4 halted pumping through the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, a vital conduit for oil exports since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz earlier in the conflict. The UN expressed deep concern over the escalating fighting and condemned continued cross-border attacks by the Houthis.
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Iran-backed Houthis said on Monday (October 5, 2026) they had struck Riyadh’s international airport, an oil refinery and other sites in Saudi Arabia, as the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said they had destroyed Houthi targets on the Red Sea coast.
asserted
they → back → coast
Pakistan and Turkiye have pledged to deploy troops to Saudi Arabia under a new mutual defence pact following weeks of Houthi attacks, as Riyadh and its Yemeni government allies began an ambitious push aimed at retaking all territory held by the group.
The fighting in Yemen has become the most active front in the West Asia war in recent weeks, displacing more than 1,84,000 people, the United Nations says, and deepening the conflict that has engulfed the wider region.
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that → pledge → region
The Houthis previously controlled much of northern Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the western city of Hodeida, but seized swathes of coastline last month along the Red Sea and key Bab al-Mandab Strait, in Yemen’s deadliest fighting in years.
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Houthis → control → years
The Houthis have also been attacking neighbouring Saudi Arabia since Yemen’s civil war flared back to life and have declared a maritime blockade on its ships.
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war → attack → ships
The Yemeni military said it carried out more than 1,000 strikes and began an offensive against Sanaa, while the Saudi-led coalition supporting the internationally recognised government said 100 warplanes flew sorties at dawn.
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warplanes → say → dawn
Turki Al-Malki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said on X that its naval forces had hit “military targets” belonging to the Houthis in Hodeida on the Red Sea coast.
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forces → lead → coast
They “destroyed weapons depots, facilities storing booby-trapped boats and naval mines” and had “thwarted a planned attack” targeting waterways in the southern Red Sea, he said.
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he → destroy → Sea
Later, the military said it had driven the Houthis from the area surrounding the Bab al-Mandeb Strait — a vital route for maritime traffic — including the port city of Mocha, Dhubab airport and Al-Omari military camp.
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it → say → Mocha
They also said they expelled the Houthis from several areas in Taiz in the southwest, where deadly fighting has surged in recent days.
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fighting → say → days
Military sources stopped short of confirming an official announcement of Mocha’s recapture, saying that pro-government forces had cut off the only supply route to the port.
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forces → stop → port
UN ‘deeply concerned’
Loud explosions rattled the Saudi capital on Monday (October 5, 2026) evening, with a Houthi spokesman saying the group had hit King Khalid International Airport, a refinery belonging to state oil giant Aramco and other targets in the kingdom’s south.
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group → rattle → south
It came a day after Yemen’s government announced the lofty goal of retaking all Houthi territory — home to most of the country’s population, and much of it held for more than a decade.
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government → come → decade
Representatives of Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Turkiye held an emergency meeting in Riyadh on Monday (September 5, 2026) under the auspices of a joint defence agreement signed in August committing them to come to each other’s aid in the event of any attack.
They also agreed “to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the Kingdom”.
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They → hold → Kingdom
The statement did not specify what role the troops would fill once in Saudi Arabia.
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troops → specify → Arabia
A spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting”, and condemned “the continued Houthi cross-border attacks” on Saudi Arabia.
Houthi attacks have repeatedly targeted Saudi oil infrastructure, as well as its tankers in the Red Sea.
A source in the Saudi energy sector told AFP that an attack on Sunday (October 4, 2026) had again halted pumping by the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, a key conduit for the kingdom’s exports since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz at the start of the wider West Asia war.
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Iran → say → war
Crude prices had already been soaring as a result of the West Asia war before the Houthis began targeting the world’s largest oil exporter.
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Houthis → soar → exporter
Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser warned on Monday (October 5, 2026) that global oil stockpiles were “scarily thin” owing to the war.
“The system is already straining,” Mr. Nasser told the Energy Intelligence Forum in London.
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Nasser → warn → London
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