Saudi Arabia struck three Houthi ballistic missile production facilities in Sanaa governorate and separately hit Hudaydah International Airport on Monday, 9 November, as the confrontation between Riyadh and the Iran-aligned Houthi movement intensified.

The strikes were the latest exchange in a conflict that has escalated sharply in recent weeks, with Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi targets met by Saudi airstrikes across Houthi-held Yemen.

What Saudi Arabia said

Major General Turki al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Saudi Joint Forces Command, announced that Saudi forces had struck three facilities that manufacture missile components, solid fuel and electronics in Houthi-controlled Sanaa governorate.

The aim, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), was likely to degrade the Houthis’ ability to strike Saudi targets. Saudi Arabia had previously hit Houthi ballistic missile storage sites and launch platforms in Sanaa governorate on 25 October.

Hudaydah airport hit

Saudi warplanes also struck Hudaydah International Airport on 9 November, according to Houthi media. No casualty figures or details of the damage were reported.

ISW noted that an Iranian flight carrying Iranian advisers and military aid had previously landed at Hudaydah airport in July 2026, after Saudi strikes on Sanaa International Airport prevented it from landing there. It said it was possible Saudi Arabia struck Hudaydah airport to stop the Houthis receiving further military supplies or advisers through it.

Houthi-run al-Masirah television also reported further Saudi strikes in Hudaydah province on Monday, including three airstrikes on the al-Eissi residential complex and damage to a spinning and weaving factory in the Zabid district. It said a family home was hit in the al-Fazah area, injuring a man, his wife and their child.

Escalation on both sides

The strikes came two days after airstrikes on the village of al-Shariya, east of Sanaa, on Saturday, 7 November. The Houthi-run health ministry said the death toll there had risen to 44, most of them women and children. Those figures have not been independently verified, and Saudi Arabia has not publicly confirmed responsibility for that strike.

Houthi attacks on Saudi targets have continued throughout the escalation. Saudi civil defence issued early warning alerts in Riyadh on 9 November, and the Houthis have repeatedly targeted Saudi airports, energy infrastructure and military sites in recent weeks.

Why it matters

The targeting of missile production, rather than only launch sites, points to a Saudi effort to cut off the Houthis’ supply of weapons at source. The Houthis have used ballistic missiles and drones against Saudi cities, including Riyadh, and against shipping in the Red Sea.

The fighting in Yemen is unfolding alongside the wider US-Israeli war with Iran, which began on 28 February, and the Houthis are aligned with Tehran. Any further escalation risks drawing in more of the region, including through the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a key shipping lane for Saudi oil exports to Asia.