Saudi Arabia’s air defense systems intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels toward the southern city of Najran on Friday, according to the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen. Debris from the interception scattered across the area, with damage assessments still underway.
In a separate incident the same day, coalition forces also shot down a Houthi drone over the Makkah region, home to Islam’s holiest site. The attacks mark a dangerous escalation in hostilities between the Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi Arabia, coming just one day after the group attempted to strike the sacred city of Madinah with a ballistic missile.
For Pakistan, these developments carry profound significance. More than two million Pakistani workers live and work across Saudi Arabia, many in cities now facing repeated missile and drone threats. Any destabilization in the Kingdom directly impacts remittances that form a lifeline for countless Pakistani families. Beyond economics, attacks targeting Madinah and Makkah strike at the heart of religious sentiment shared by Pakistan’s overwhelmingly Muslim population.
Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Jordan swiftly condemned Thursday’s attempted strike on Madinah, calling it a reckless provocation against Muslims worldwide and a violation of international law. Qatar’s Foreign Ministry described the attack as showing blatant disregard for civilian lives, while Kuwait labeled the ongoing Houthi assaults as flagrant breaches of Saudi sovereignty.
Meanwhile, fierce ground fighting continues inside Yemen. The Yemeni army announced Friday it had recaptured several areas in the southwestern Taiz province, including Al-Nidani village and parts of the Sanamat region, following intense clashes with Houthi forces. Government troops, backed by local resistance fighters, reportedly inflicted heavy losses on the rebels and began clearing mines from newly secured territory.
Yet the human cost keeps mounting. Yemen’s Defense Ministry accused the Houthis of firing a ballistic missile at a crowded marketplace in Taiz’s Al-Wazi’iyah district, killing and wounding dozens of civilians. No exact casualty figures were immediately available.
The conflict, now in its twelfth year, began when Houthi forces seized Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014. Saudi Arabia intervened months later at the head of a regional coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government. The war has since triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
Adding to the diplomatic friction, Saudi Arabia this week firmly rejected a Wall Street Journal report claiming the Houthis had demanded $51 billion in compensation and formal recognition as Yemen’s legitimate rulers in exchange for ending attacks on the Kingdom. Saudi Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy Rayed Krimly dismissed the report as pure fabrication, accusing the Houthis of causing famine, attacking Red Sea shipping, and rejecting genuine peace initiatives.
As missile alerts sound across Saudi cities and diplomatic efforts stall, Pakistani expatriates and their families back home are watching nervously. The Kingdom’s stability remains crucial not only for regional security but for the economic wellbeing of millions of Pakistanis whose livelihoods depend on the Gulf’s largest economy remaining safe and prosperous.
