A coalition led by Saudi Arabia announced Friday that projectiles — both missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles — had been brought down before reaching Riyadh and several other locations, amid an ongoing exchange of fire with Houthi forces backed by Iran.

Turki al-Malki, serving as spokesman for the coalition that has backed Yemen's internationally recognised government in its conflict with the Houthis, posted on X that three drones had been brought down in the southern region and over Riyadh, along with two cruise missiles above the Red Sea, and that a ballistic missile had separately been neutralised over Yanbu — a Red Sea coastal city where a major oil pipeline reaches its terminal point.

Drone and missile attacks on targets inside Saudi Arabia — among them Red Sea shipping lanes, petroleum infrastructure, and the kingdom's main international airport, where a single strike left 13 dead last week — have been carried out by Houthi forces on multiple occasions since hostilities in Yemen resumed in July.

Drone and missile strikes attributed to the Houthi movement have grown more frequent in the period following the group's territorial push in Yemen that began in September, when fighters took control of government-held areas along the Red Sea coastline — a stretch of water that sits astride one of the world's busiest shipping corridors.

Pressure on Saudi Arabia — the world's leading oil exporter — had been building against a backdrop in which global energy markets were already in flux, following Iran's decision to close the Strait of Hormuz after the wider Middle East conflict took hold in February.

A Thursday resolution from the UN Security Council formally expressed its strongest-level disapproval of the ongoing and intensifying pattern of Houthi strikes directed at Saudi Arabia, while also addressing the group's actions and stated threats toward vessels and maritime traffic navigating the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the waterway that serves as the southern approach to the Suez Canal. Riyadh's airport also featured in the resolution, which noted the group's alleged involvement in strikes against the facility — with the Saudi-led coalition placing the number of incidents at a minimum of 20 within the month under review.

A statement from the foreign ministry attributed to Dr Rayed Krimly, the deputy minister for public diplomacy, put forward the position that Iran has been providing weapons, training, and backing to the Houthi militia in a manner inconsistent with UN Security Council resolutions, with Krimly adding that the group's stepped-up actions at this point in the conflict appear to have been encouraged by Tehran.

A counteroffensive mounted by government troops, backed by Saudi air power, has moved to reclaim territory under Houthi control, though those efforts have yet to restore the previous front lines.

A strike involving ballistic projectiles hit the presidential compound at Aden — the country's interim governmental seat — on Thursday, leaving five people dead and 16 others with injuries, figures provided by the health minister indicated. In a post on X, Yemeni Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani characterised the act as driven by the same pattern of conduct he attributed to the Houthis in prior incidents, describing it as neither isolated nor unprecedented.

An unnamed government minister, speaking under a guarantee of confidentiality, indicated that Zindani had been on the scene at the time yet left without any injury. According to the minister, three missiles landed on a command centre used by Yemeni government forces at the complex, while two others struck a separate facility serving the Saudi coalition.

Outlets aligned with the Houthi movement reported that their forces had struck what they described as a command centre run by Saudi officers at Al-Maashiq Palace in Aden, along with nearby arms storage facilities under the same control.