Yemen strikes targets in Saudi Arabia’s Najran, warns of ‘more painful’ attacks

Yemeni forces have carried out two drone operations targeting Najran airport and Saudi Aramco facilities in Saudi Arabia’s Najran region, spokesman for Yemen’s armed forces Brigadier General Yahya Saree says. 

“We carried out two military operations with two drones,” Saree said on Thursday. “The first operation targeted a sensitive enemy Saudi target at Najran airport.”

“The second operation targeted the facilities of Aramco Najran, and thanks to God, both operations successfully achieved their objectives,” he added.

Saree said the two operations were carried out “in response to the violation of Saada province’s airspace by enemy Saudi drones.”

“The Yemeni armed forces will continue to protect Yemen’s sovereignty against any intrusion and establish this equation of reciprocal response,” he said.

The operations came as a report said Yemen’s armed forces plan to intensify their retaliatory attacks against key targets in Saudi Arabia and tighten their blockade on the kingdom.

Lebanon’s al-Akhbar newspaper quoted informed sources as saying that Yemeni forces have added dozens of vital targets in Saudi Arabis’s Jazan and Najran to their bank of targets.

According to the sources, Yemeni attacks against targets in the south of Saudi Arabia are expected to increase in the coming period, in retaliation for the escalating artillery strikes by Saudi forces on border villages in Sa’ada Province.

The sources stressed that the Yemeni forces have placed Aramco, with all its facilities, oil storage tanks, crude oil pipelines, and export terminals, on their target list, warning that "Saudi Arabia's obstinacy and refusal to implement legitimate Yemeni demands will cost it its oil lifeline."

They noted that Yemen continues to isolate Saudi ports on the Red Sea and will continue to prevent Saudi ships from passing through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait until Riyadh lifts its naval and air blockade on Yemen and fulfills its obligations.

The report, citing a maritime source in Sana’a, emphasized that the number of ships displaying the "non-Saudi cargo" motto has increased recently, adding that international insurance companies have obligated many ships to display mottos that reduce security risks in the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait.

‘Major predicament’

The source considered the "new disclosure method, through which complete data is provided about the type of cargo, the ports it is coming from, its final destination, the nationalities of the ship's crew, as well as confirmation that it does not belong to Saudi Arabia, as an indication that Saudi shipping is facing a major predicament."

The source warned that all other alternatives Saudi Arabia has resorted to in order to “alleviate the pressure of the Yemeni maritime blockade”, including diverting towards the Strait of Gibraltar or heading north towards the Mediterranean, “will not be safe if the armed forces decide to move to the second phase of the blockade-for-blockade equation.”

The source further said that the Yemeni blockade has halted the passage of 85% of the Kingdom’s oil exports to Asia via the southern Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, which is the shortest route between Asia and Europe.

As the Yemeni forces have expanded the scope of the maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia from the southern Red Sea to its north, informed military sources also told Al-Akhbar that the naval forces have also expanded their tracking and surveillance of Saudi ships from the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea, hinting at new “surprises.”

Yemeni armed forces impose ‘3 new equations’ on Saudi Arabia amid maritime blockade

The Yemeni armed forces have announced a major strategic shift, declaring that they have reached a level of military capability that allows them to dictate regional equations.

Saree detailed on Wednesday how his country has successfully imposed three strategic realities on the Saudi regime, marked by a highly effective and crippling maritime blockade.

"We have reached a level of power where we dictate the equations, and with the help of God, we have successfully imposed three equations on the Saudi enemy," he said. 

These three pillars, he stated, are: "blockade for blockade," the ability to strike Saudi military buildups anywhere, and the absolute protection of Yemeni sovereignty against any aerial or territorial breaches.

Saree noted that in the coming period, “more painful airstrikes” will be carried out against Saudi targets.

The statement also warned the Saudi regime that any all-out escalation will be met with a comprehensive response.

The Yemeni armed forces said Riyadh has no choice but to lift the siege, implement existing agreements, pay the salaries of Yemeni public servants, withdraw occupying forces, and return the nation's wealth to its people.

The current maritime blockade is a direct response to the devastating, years-long siege imposed on Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition.

For nearly a decade, the coalition has enforced a crippling land, sea, and air blockade, which the United Nations has repeatedly described as a primary driver of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

This siege has deliberately targeted Yemen's ability to import food, fuel, and medicine, while simultaneously attempting to plunder the nation's oil and gas resources.

Utilizing their advanced asymmetric naval capabilities, including drones and missiles, Yemen has shifted from a purely defensive posture to an active pressure campaign.

This strategy is designed to inflict direct economic and military costs on the Saudi regime until the siege is permanently lifted, the war is ended, and Yemen's full sovereignty is restored.

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