Saudi Coalition Destroys Five Houthi Missile Tunnels in Yemen

The Saudi-led coalition said Monday it destroyed five tunnels used to store ballistic missiles, four ballistic missile launchers and another missile storage facility in Houthi-controlled Yemen, reducing the rebels' capacity to strike inside Saudi Arabia. Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, the coalition spokesperson, said the operation also targeted rebel fortifications and military equipment along the front lines, and aimed to sever supply lines between areas under Houthi control.

The coalition will continue to use "deterrent operational measures" to defend against what al-Malki called the Houthis' "brutal attacks" inside the kingdom and in Yemen, he said in a post on X. The Houthis, an Iran-backed group, have repeatedly targeted Saudi Arabia and government forces inside Yemen throughout the conflict.

The Houthi-run Health Ministry in Yemen said Saudi-backed forces struck a hospital in the Red Sea port city of Mokha on Monday, causing extensive damage, and also hit a children's hospital in Taiz province on Sunday. The ministry did not report casualties and provided no evidence for either claim. Two Mokha residents, speaking anonymously out of concern about reprisals, said a rocket struck a four-story residential building near Mokha General Hospital, damaging the hospital and at least 10 houses. The Associated Press could not verify those accounts. No comment was issued by Saudi-backed forces.

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree claimed Monday that rebels fired ballistic missiles at military gatherings and weapons depots belonging to Saudi-backed forces in Aden and Lahj provinces, causing losses. Those claims also could not be independently verified. The Yemeni government accused the Houthis on Sunday of targeting displacement camps on the outskirts of Aden, without offering evidence.

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz rejected reports of disagreements between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the military over Iran as "completely baseless and false" in a post on X. Katz said Israel has no plan to strike Iran before Tuesday's national elections but would respond "with great force" if Iran attacks first. Israeli Channel 12 reported Sunday evening that Netanyahu instructed the military to carry out an "action" that army officials believe could reignite conflict with Iran; the report did not specify what the action would be. Netanyahu's office called the report "fake news."

Egypt's parliament approved President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi's request to back Saudi Arabia in countering Houthi attacks, a step taken amid public concern that Egypt could be drawn into Yemen's conflict. Egypt's highest security body pledged to provide "all necessary and possible forms of support" to Saudi Arabia for its defense, resources, territorial integrity and Islamic holy sites.

Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agreed Monday to continue talks on cooperation in regional peace and security, Iran's state-run IRNA reported. Maj. Gen. Mohsen Rezaei, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, hosted the first quadrilateral meeting in Tehran. Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Pakistan's armed forces chief Gen. Asim Munir and Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin attended. IRNA did not say when or where the next meeting would occur.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised address Monday that renewed attacks on Iran would destabilize the region and raise fuel prices for countries outside the conflict. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in Cairo he was "deeply alarmed" by settler violence and settlement expansion in the West Bank, and called for lifting Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid to Gaza.