Unable to Verify Report of Houthi Missiles Targeting Saudi Forces in Jazan
Key Facts
It was not possible to verify an announcement attributed to the Houthi group claiming it launched missiles at Saudi forces in Jazan on November 13, as the link to the report attributed to Reuters could not be opened and no reliable public source confirming the incident could be found. It therefore cannot be established whether the attack occurred or what its details were, and the information provided includes no Saudi statement confirming it or announcement that missiles were intercepted in Jazan that day. Reuters’ available report on the Houthis’ advance toward Aden was dated November 2 and does not establish a connection between that advance and the claim concerning Jazan. The available information also contains no data on market movements in the November 13 session linking them to this report. Previous military events remain separate in time from the unverified claim.
On November 2, Reuters cited four military sources as saying the Houthis had advanced to within 80 kilometres of Aden, the main stronghold and temporary capital of Yemen’s internationally recognised government. The report said they had come closer to the city than at any time since the early months of the war in 2015, when they briefly entered it before being driven out. That describes a battlefield advance in Yemen, but does not establish that a missile attack on Jazan took place 11 days later. On the same date, coalition forces said they had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched toward the south of the kingdom, following security alerts in Khamis Mushait, Abha, Taif and Najran. Saudi Civil Defense said the threat had passed after the alerts, according to a Reuters report published by Internazionale.
On November 10, coalition forces said they had intercepted a ballistic missile and a cruise missile headed for Riyadh, as well as a ballistic missile aimed at the south of the kingdom and a drone over the oil-rich Eastern Province. Reuters reported that Saudi Civil Defense issued alerts in Riyadh, Abha and Khamis Mushait, then announced that the threats had passed. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree, meanwhile, said the group had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and an oil facility in Abqaiq. The report noted that Saudi Arabia had not immediately commented on those claims. These statements and interceptions concern earlier events and do not confirm the claim about Jazan on November 13.
Reports from previous days described separate accounts of attacks and interceptions in the kingdom. On November 8, the coalition said its defenses had intercepted two ballistic missiles and two cruise missiles targeting Riyadh and other areas. The Associated Press reported that debris damaged an Aramco building in Riyadh’s financial district, while Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said there were no injuries at an Aramco facility. On November 7, a Houthi spokesman said the attacks on Saudi Arabia were in response to airstrikes near Sanaa and a strike on a market in southwestern Yemen. The agency added that it could not independently verify the Houthi claims and that Saudi Arabia’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Headlines published by EL7 on November 2 and 8 record reports of an attack on Dammam airport, missile interceptions and an announcement that the financial district in Riyadh had been targeted, without independently confirming the Jazan incident.
Reuters’ report on the events of November 10 placed the confrontations within a broader escalation, saying fighting had intensified since September as the Houthis advanced toward the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. It added that the group had stepped up strikes on Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities, while Saudi Arabia carried out airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. Separately, the Associated Press said Jazan is home to an oil refinery with a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day, and that September attacks hit Jazan’s industrial city and other facilities in the south of the kingdom. This context indicates the region’s significance in previous reports of attacks, but does not establish that the refinery or Jazan facilities were attacked on November 13. The information provided also contains no documented market response to the claim concerning that date.
On the political front, UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg said on September 29 that he had met Houthi negotiators in Muscat in an effort to avert further escalation and held talks in Riyadh with Yemen’s internationally recognised government and regional countries. He described the escalation against Saudi Arabia as unprecedented and dramatic, and said the talks aimed to explore "ways to prevent the current escalation from expanding further." He added that a path to a solution remained difficult, and that the parties and their supporters were assessing the consequences of the escalation before choosing the next course, "whether on the battlefield or at the negotiating table." On November 13, the Associated Press quoted UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq as saying civilians across Yemen were increasingly being exposed to missiles, drones, airstrikes and shelling in their homes, markets and places once considered safe. The available information contains no UN announcement linking that warning to the incident attributed to that day in Jazan.