Riyadh targeted amid escalation concerns

The Yemen conflict has slipped into a more dangerous phase since Saturday, as the Houthi group launched a ballistic missile attack targeting Riyadh for the first time.

The rare strike brought direct hostilities to Saudi Arabia's capital, even as the United States has made it clear it has no intention of joining offensive airstrikes against the Houthis.

This marked the first time Riyadh came under direct fire since the latest round of Saudi-Houthi tensions flared up. The escalating Yemen fighting has emerged as a new front in the broader regional conflict sparked by United States-Israeli military strikes on Iran in late February.

Saudi Arabia said its air defenses intercepted the missile launched toward Riyadh early on Saturday. Residents reported hearing an explosion and later seeing smoke near King Khalid International Airport. There were no reports of casualties or damage, according to The Associated Press.

Multiple residents, speaking anonymously to Agence France-Presse, said successive blasts echoed across the city shortly after security alerts were issued.

"I heard the alarm go off, then my windows shook," a 27-year-old resident of northern Riyadh recounted. "It was terrifying. I never expected something like this to happen."

In an online statement, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea said a "large number of ballistic and cruise missiles and drones "had been used to attack "sensitive sites" in Riyadh and Aramco's state oil and gas facilities in the coastal city of Yanbu. But he provided no evidence, saying it was a response to a Saudi-led attack in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

Saudi authorities confirmed that all attempted attacks targeting civilian infrastructure in Yanbu, Taif, Baysh and Farasan were successfully thwarted by its air defense systems.

On Friday, the United Nations Security Council "condemned in the strongest terms continued Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in injury to civilians, including women and children".

Despite providing Saudi Arabia with increased intelligence and targeting support, Washington has drawn a line at directly attacking the Houthis.

"No offensive strikes," one US official told CNN.

'Heightened vigilance'

The US State Department, meanwhile, warned its citizens in Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Qatar, Lebanon, Kuwait and Jordan on Saturday to exercise "heightened vigilance", warning that "the security environment remains complex with the potential for unforeseen escalation".

Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told Al Jazeera in an interview aired on Saturday that Tehran wanted the war between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis to end, adding that he believed Yemenis also wanted a settlement with Saudi Arabia.

In addition, Rezaei said Iran had conveyed its conditions to Qatar for re-engaging in stalled negotiations with the US and that it was waiting for US President Donald Trump's response. It was not clear when the conditions were shared. Rezaei said they include ending the war on all fronts, releasing assets seized from Iran and ending the US naval blockade of Iranian ports.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Turkiye and other countries have put forward new mediation proposals to the US and Iran.

"But there is a strong distrust between the parties," Fidan told Turkish broadcaster NTV. "They had previously reached an agreement in Pakistan, but then problems arose in its implementation. Now both sides are clearly trying to advance this process in a way that will secure their interests."

Stephen Zunes, founding chair of the Middle Eastern Studies program at the University of San Francisco, told Al Jazeera that there is little sign that the current US-Iran deadlock will break in the near term, as Iran is prepared to endure intensified sanctions and further conflict losses amid renewed tensions, while the Trump administration remains unwilling to offer substantial diplomatic concessions.

Iran's demand for the war to end "on all fronts" could now extend to Yemen, Zunes said.

As the US confirmed the granting of visas to the Iranian delegation for the 81st session of the UN General Assembly in New York, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said on Saturday that attending the event is Tehran's right.

"A trip to New York holds no appeal for Iranian diplomats, yet it is a bastion that must not be abandoned," he said.