The Saudi official media reported that the Riyadh-led coalition destroyed a drone launched by the Houthis towards the city of Khamis Mushait in the southwest of the Kingdom, while the Houthi group vowed to carry out stronger attacks after it targeted oil and military sites in Saudi Arabia.

And Anadolu Agency reported that the Saudi-led coalition said that it had intercepted and destroyed an explosive drone launched by the Houthi group towards Khamis Mushait.

The coalition added that the Houthis - whom the coalition described as terrorist militias - are continuing with "attempts to target civilians and civilian areas."

Earlier on Friday, the coalition said it destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthis towards Najran, southern Saudi Arabia.

For their part, the Houthis said that they launched 18 bombed drones and 8 ballistic missiles at oil and military sites in Saudi Arabia, including the headquarters of the Aramco oil company in the areas of Ras Tanura, Rabigh, Yanbigh and Jizan, the King Abdul Aziz base in Dammam (east), and military sites in Najran and Asir.

More severe attacks

The Houthi military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said that the group is ready to carry out "more severe and harsh military operations during the coming period."

National Resilience Day operation statement ... pic.twitter.com/Hq28tLERFD

- Brigadier General Yahya Saree (@ army21ye) March 26, 2021

On the other hand, the Saudi Ministry of Energy said yesterday evening, Thursday, that a station for the distribution of petroleum products in Jizan was attacked by a projectile, which led to a fire in one of the tanks, without causing any casualties.

The Saudi Ministry of Defense said today that the Kingdom will take deterrent steps to protect oil exports.

"These attacks came to confirm the terrorist Houthi militia's rejection of all political efforts to end the Yemeni crisis," the ministry’s spokesman, Colonel Turki Al-Maliki, said in a statement.

In the past weeks, the Houthis have intensified the launching of ballistic missiles, projectiles and marches on Saudi areas, amid repeated declarations by the coalition that they have destroyed these missiles and aircraft, and accusing the group of being supported by these weapons from Iran.

The Houthis are pressing to fully lift the naval and land blockade of the areas under their control, and the coalition responded with air strikes on military sites for them in different areas in northern Yemen.

A spokesman for the Saudi Ministry of Defense said that the Houthi attacks confirm their rejection of all efforts to end the Yemeni crisis (Reuters)

Political path

On the political front, the United Nations Special Envoy Martin Griffiths held talks today with the Houthi spokesman Muhammad Abdul Salam in the Sultanate of Oman, urging the group to engage in a ceasefire and reach an agreement with the Saudi-led coalition that controls Yemeni airspace to reopen Sanaa airport. .

Griffiths’s office also said on his Twitter account that the UN envoy discussed with Abdul Salam the need to reach an agreement to lift the restrictions imposed by the coalition on the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeidah, and for the group to resume political talks with the internationally recognized Yemeni government.

And Riyadh announced a few days ago a peace initiative that includes a ceasefire in all parts of Yemen, which the war is entering its seventh year.

On the other hand, the leader of the group, Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi, delivered a speech on Thursday rejecting what he said were attempts by Saudi Arabia, the United States and some European countries to persuade his group to barter the humanitarian file for military and political agreements.

The Houthi leader added that the path to peace is "clear," and requires an end to the aggression, an end to the siege, and an end to what he called the occupation of the Yemeni governorates, as he put it.

For nearly 7 years, Yemen has been witnessing an ongoing war between the pro-government forces backed by an Arab military alliance led by the Saudi neighbor and the Iranian-backed Houthis who have controlled provinces - including the capital, Sanaa - since September 2014.