SANAA/RIYADH – Yemen's Houthi group warned on Tuesday it could intensify attacks on Saudi Arabia's airports, ports and other infrastructure and retaliate against any foreign country that joins the conflict, as fighting escalates along Yemen's strategic Red Sea coast.

In an interview broadcast by Lebanon-based Al Mayadeen television, Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of the Houthi Political Bureau, said government forces had breached Houthi lines during their latest offensive on Monday, but claimed the advance had since been contained.

"There was a breach, but we have plugged it," he said. He also said that the group has the military capability to shut down Saudi airports and seaports, warning that continued hostilities could expose wider Saudi infrastructure to attack.

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Addressing possible regional involvement, al-Bukhaiti said the Houthis did not expect Türkiye or Pakistan to directly join combat operations inside Yemen, but warned that the group would consider even indirect involvement as participation in the war and would be prepared to respond.

The two countries said on Monday that they will provide military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in Saudi Arabia in accordance with their commitments under the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement.

Despite the threats, al-Bukhaiti called ending the conflict a "shared interest," arguing that de-escalation would benefit both Saudi Arabia and Yemen.

His remarks came amid intensified fighting along Yemen's southwestern coast, where Saudi-backed government forces launched a major offensive on Monday against Houthi positions around the Bab al-Mandab Strait with extensive Saudi air support. The Houthis seized Mocha and nearby Mayyun Island in September, expanding their presence around the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The renewed government ground campaign has been accompanied by an escalation in cross-border attacks, with the Houthis launching ballistic missiles and drones at airports, energy facilities and military targets inside Saudi Arabia, while Saudi warplanes have intensified strikes on Houthi positions across Yemen.

Strikes hit Sanaa, other Houthi-held areas

A new wave of airstrikes hit Yemen's Houthi-held capital Sanaa and several northern provinces late Tuesday, Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported, as residents told Xinhua that several loud explosions rocked the capital.

The strikes targeted areas in Sanaa as well as the provinces of Amran, Saada and Al-Jawf, the television channel said, describing the attacks as "Saudi aggression."

Residents in Sanaa told Xinhua that a number of explosions were heard across several parts of the capital, but the targets and extent of damage were not immediately clear.

Houthis claim missile strike on Abha airport

Also on Tuesday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said the Houthis had launched a fresh ballistic missile strike on Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia's Asir region, claiming the attack disrupted air traffic.

In a statement on social media platform X, Sarea claimed the missile "precisely and directly" hit the airport.

There was no immediate confirmation from Saudi authorities regarding the attack.

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said Tuesday that King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in the country's southwestern region of Jazan and Najran International Airport, also in the southwest, were targeted in separate attacks on Monday evening, leaving three people slightly injured.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Sarea said Houthi forces fired several ballistic missiles at Saudi troop concentrations at the Al-Daghareer military camp in Jazan near the Yemeni border, claiming the missiles hit their targets.

Saudi-led coalition vows to continue neutralizing Houthi missile threats

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by Yemen's Houthi group toward the southwestern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported early Wednesday.

Coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Malki was quoted by the SPA as saying that Sanaa and the governorates of Saada and Amran are sources of Houthi missile threats.

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Al-Malki said the coalition would continue to neutralize ballistic and surface-to-surface missile threats and destroy their sources.

Yemen's conflict erupted in late 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen. A Saudi-led military coalition intervened in 2015 to support the internationally recognized Yemeni government. The recent clashes marked the sharpest escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities in the war-torn country.