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Missile and drone attacks have put Saudi Arabia on high alert, AnewZ reports. Rising tensions have disrupted life in the capital, Riyadh, and raised questions about the obligations under a new defence agreement with Türkiye and Pakistan.
From midnight until the morning on Friday, residents in the Saudi capital received repeated security alerts. Warnings were issued for Riyadh, Abha, Khamis Mushait and Najran province over attacks by Iran-backed Houthis targeting sites in the kingdom.
The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a missile heading towards the capital and destroyed four drones over the Riyadh and Medina regions within several hours.
The Houthis claimed on Thursday that they had struck the Saudi Ministry of Defense headquarters in Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Yanbu. Saudi officials have not confirmed the claims.
Attacks disrupt daily life
At least 20 people have been killed and hundreds injured in earlier attacks on airports in Riyadh, Abha and Dammam.
Many skyscrapers in the capital remain closed, and schools have suspended operations. Hotels near the Kingdom Tower in the city centre have been evacuated as a precaution.
Aramco has instructed employees remaining at its headquarters in Dhahran to leave the building and work remotely until further notice. Saudi officials have confirmed that the building housing the company’s operations centre was hit.
On Friday morning, the Houthis-controlled Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center reiterated its warning to airlines not to use Saudi airports or airspace. The only exception it cited was airspace over Mecca and Medina.
The statement carried the slogan “Escalation will be met with escalation.” The center said the warning would remain in force until what it called “aggression and blockade” against Yemen ended. It also said it would not be responsible for the safety of aircraft, crews or passengers if airlines ignored the warning. No end date was given, and no possible measures against aircraft continuing to use Saudi airspace were specified.
Defence agreement obligations put to the test
The Houthis began attacking Saudi Arabia after declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July. This opened a new front in the wider regional conflict that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran.
The group has also strengthened its positions along extensive stretches of the Red Sea coast, including around the strategically important Bab el-Mandeb Strait, Al Jazeera reports. The developments have heightened concerns about the safety of vital shipping routes and brought maritime trade to the forefront of diplomatic discussions on the conflict.
Saudi Arabia’s allies are increasing their support in response to the attacks on the kingdom. Britain is providing additional defence assistance, including Royal Air Force Typhoon patrols, to help intercept missiles and drones. The United States and other partners are also stepping up security measures.
A more significant political test concerns the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement, signed on August 7 by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Under the agreement, an armed attack on any one of the three countries is considered an attack on all of them.
In late September, the foreign ministers of the three countries condemned reported Houthi attacks on civilian and economic sites in Saudi Arabia, as well as on Mecca. The Houthis deny attacking Mecca.
Türkiye and Pakistan subsequently reported the “rapid deployment” of troops but did not specify their assignments. Questions remain over how far either country will go in implementing the agreement.
By the end of September, Pakistan and Türkiye had not launched retaliatory strikes against the Houthis. Pakistan said it would act “when the time comes.” According to an analysis by Al-Monitor, the attacks are forcing the parties to the agreement to implement their commitments sooner than expected, but Türkiye is unlikely to take part directly in military operations against the Houthis. Ankara’s position is focused on defensive support rather than offensive action.
Türkiye is preparing to host foreign ministers from regional and European countries to discuss the worsening security crisis in Saudi Arabia. Ankara plans to stress the need for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict between the United States and Iran, as well as the importance of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Turkish officials are also expected to reaffirm their commitment to Saudi Arabia’s security under the Mecca agreement.
Riyadh is seeking to defend its territory without allowing the confrontation to turn into a prolonged conflict. Such a conflict could affect aviation, oil exports and regional trade. The Houthis have demonstrated their ability to threaten targets deep inside Saudi Arabia, while Saudi forces continue operations against the group’s military capabilities.
Foreign military assistance could strengthen the kingdom’s defences while also carrying the risk of further escalation. Airspace warnings, closures in central Riyadh and attacks on Aramco-linked facilities show that the conflict’s economic impact extends beyond the direct military threat. As regional diplomatic contacts intensify, attention is focused on whether talks in Ankara and elsewhere can contain the violence before it spreads further.
