Monday, October 5, witnessed a new escalation in the war, with the Yemeni response shifting more clearly from the border fronts toward airports, military bases, and oil infrastructure deep inside Saudi territory.
Ansarullah military spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree announced three large-scale operations using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and drones. He said they targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the Aramco refinery in Rabigh, Abha Airport, Khamis Mushait Air Base, Akfa military camp in Asir, as well as sites in Najran and Jizan.
In Riyadh, the situation is no longer based solely on Yemeni military statements. Journalists and residents reported hearing powerful explosions north of the capital on Monday evening.
Claims that Riyadh airport completely halted operations, however, require qualification. Flight-tracking data indicated major disruption rather than a total shutdown: at one point Monday evening, average delays reached approximately 38 minutes, with around 59% of recorded flights delayed and roughly 3% cancelled.
That alone remains militarily significant. Forcing the airport serving the Saudi capital to operate under repeated missile pressure represents an operational impact even without completely shutting it down.
On the energy front, Yahya Saree confirmed that the Aramco refinery in Rabigh had been targeted and said a fire broke out at the facility.
As for circulating images and reports claiming simultaneous fires at Khurais, Rabigh, and Jeddah, there is currently insufficient independent evidence to confirm that all three facilities were struck during the same attack. Previous attacks in recent days, however, had already targeted Aramco facilities in Riyadh and Khurais, contributing to concerns in global oil markets.
Militarily, what is happening?
Saudi Arabia is attempting to push the war in the opposite direction through a major air and ground campaign inside Yemen.
Saudi-backed forces launched an offensive along the western coast and Bab al-Mandab, supported by a Saudi air campaign reportedly involving around 100 combat aircraft, and announced the recapture of territory toward Mocha and Bab al-Mandab.
Sanaa’s response, however, appears to be based on a different equation: rather than trying to match Saudi air superiority, it is seeking to raise the cost of the war inside the Kingdom itself.
This means applying pressure on three strategic sectors simultaneously:
Civilian and military aviation — energy infrastructure — and southern military bases supporting operations inside Yemen.
From the perspective of the Axis of Resistance, the military message is clear: Saudi Arabia may be capable of carrying out dozens of airstrikes inside Yemen, but air superiority does not automatically provide immunity inside Saudi territory.
Every expansion of the Saudi ground or air campaign could therefore be met by an expansion of Yemen’s target bank toward Riyadh and Saudi economic and military infrastructure.
Yahya Saree said the strikes came after around 60 Saudi airstrikes and attacks within 24 hours against Sanaa, Al-Jawf, Taiz, Hajjah, Saada, and Marib.
He also warned airlines against operating in Saudi airspace, while explicitly excluding the airspace over Mecca and Medina from the declared area of operations. These figures and details represent Ansarullah’s account and have not all been independently verified.
The most dangerous development now is that the war is no longer confined to the Saudi–Yemeni border.
Two parallel campaigns are effectively taking place: Riyadh is attempting to reshape the battlefield on the ground inside Yemen, while Sanaa is attempting to turn Saudi Arabia’s strategic depth into a front of economic and military pressure.
If this equation continues, the question will no longer simply be:
Who is advancing in Taiz or Bab al-Mandab?
The larger question will be:
How long can Saudi Arabia sustain a large-scale war in Yemen while its airports, oil infrastructure, and military bases remain exposed to missile and drone attacks?