Saudi civil defense issues warning for province on Yemen border

Saudi Arabia issued a civil defense warning in its southern Najran province on Tuesday, urging residents to remain indoors and avoid open areas, as fighting between Saudi-backed Yemeni forces and Iran-aligned Houthi fighters intensified.

The warning was lifted shortly afterward.

Why did Saudi civil defense issue a warning for Najran?

The National Early Warning Platform issued the alert for a potential danger in Najran, the Saudi Civil Defense agency said in a statement posted online.

Najran borders Yemen and has previously been targeted by Houthi missiles and drones. The alert came as Saudi Arabia stepped up airstrikes against Houthi positions in Yemen following a Houthi attack targeting Riyadh over the weekend.

What is happening in the wider Saudi-Houthi conflict?

Saudi strikes on the strategic Red Sea port city of Mokha killed at least six people and wounded eight others, the Houthi-affiliated Saba news agency reported on Tuesday. Saba said six civilians, including two children and a woman, were killed, and eight others, including a child and a woman, were injured in the coalition airstrikes. Fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces has killed 154 people over the past two days, according to military sources on both sides cited by AFP.

Houthi military sources said 118 people had been killed in Saudi airstrikes, clashes and artillery fire in the provinces of Taiz, Al-Jawf, Marib and Saada. Government sources reported 36 deaths among their own forces. The Houthis have made rapid territorial gains in Yemen in recent weeks, including the capture of Mokha and positions near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a vital shipping route linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.

How is the international community responding?

The Houthi advance has increased pressure on Saudi Arabia and Yemen's internationally recognized government to halt the group's expansion. Yemeni President Rashad al-Alimi spoke by phone with US President Donald Trump on Sunday and requested US support for his Saudi-backed government, according to people familiar with the matter. Trump did not make a direct commitment of military support, according to sources cited by Reuters.

US media have reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman also urged Trump to take military action against the Houthis, though Washington has so far refrained from joining Saudi Arabia's campaign. Britain, however, has agreed to provide limited military assistance. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the Royal Air Force would provide air-to-air refueling for Saudi aircraft conducting defensive missions against Houthi missile and drone attacks, support that British officials say is time-limited and not intended to assist Saudi strikes on Houthi positions.

Is Saudi Arabia still at war with Yemen?

The renewed fighting marks a major deterioration in a conflict that had been largely frozen since a 2022 truce. Yemen's civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa, and Saudi Arabia intervened in 2015 at the head of a coalition backing the internationally recognized government.

The conflict has also become part of a wider regional confrontation involving Iran, whose Houthi allies have expanded their military activity as tensions have risen across the Middle East.

The renewed fighting has raised concerns over shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb, one of the world's key maritime chokepoints, as well as the security of Saudi energy infrastructure. The Houthis have launched missile and drone attacks against Saudi targets while expanding their control over parts of Yemen's Red Sea coast.