Saudi alerts sound across the south as coalition says it downed Houthi missiles, while Dammam drone strike claims stay unconfirmed


Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defense issued danger alerts across the south on Sunday and Monday as the coalition led by Saudi Arabia said it downed Houthi missiles, while claims that a Yemeni drone caused a Dammam fire remain unconfirmed.

On Monday morning, coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said air defenses had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis “toward the southern region,” Asharq News reported. The Civil Defense issued early warnings in Najran, Taif, Abha and Khamis Mushait, then declared the danger over, and no damage was reported. Further alerts followed for Jazan at 11:37 AM and for Najran at 1:34 PM Riyadh time, according to the Civil Defense and news aggregator accounts on X.

The first alert went out at 6:20 PM Riyadh time on Sunday, November 1, through the National Early Warning Platform, warning residents of the southern city of Abha of an unspecified danger. The alert was extended to the neighboring governorate of Khamis Mushait, home to a major air base, and the Civil Defense declared the danger over at 6:28 PM, according to news aggregator accounts on X citing the Civil Defense.

Two hours later, the Civil Defense issued a similar warning for Jazan province on the Yemeni border. “A warning has been issued by the National Early Warning Platform in Jazan Province to alert of a potential danger,” it said on X at 8:40 PM Riyadh time. Six minutes later, it announced that the danger had passed and urged residents to keep following its instructions and to avoid gathering and filming. The agency did not say what the danger was.

Later on Sunday evening, The Saudi Post, a news account on X, quoted al-Maliki as saying air defenses had intercepted a ballistic missile and a drone launched by the Houthis toward the southern region.

In the Eastern Province, the Civil Defense said its teams in Dammam had put out a fire at two sites used to repair and store air conditioning units, with no injuries. Later in the evening it reported another fire, in a building under construction in the Al Aziziyah district of Riyadh, also without injuries.

Videos of thick smoke over Dammam spread quickly. Accounts supportive of the Houthis and some Iranian outlets presented the fire as the result of a Yemeni drone attack. “A major fire at an industrial facility in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, as a result of a Yemeni attack with drones,” wrote the account @SadeedNet1. Another, @TheSaviour, wrote that new footage showed a major fire at an industrial facility in Dammam “after a Yemeni drone strike.”

Arabia Fact Check (@ArabiaFactCheck), an account that monitors viral claims in the Gulf, labeled those posts misleading. “The Dammam fire is real; a Yemeni strike is not confirmed,” it wrote, noting that as of 8 PM Riyadh time the Houthi military spokesman had not claimed any strike on Dammam. In its evening summary, it also said there was no official confirmation of viral claims that Iranian drones had hit a base in Kuwait.

The alerts and the rumors follow a week of real attacks. On October 29, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed six operations against Saudi targets, including oil facilities at Ras Tanura, Abqaiq and Rabigh, and airports in Riyadh and Dammam, and Saudi air defenses intercepted projectiles over Riyadh, where falling debris injured a citizen, Mereja Media reported on October 30.

The Houthis describe their attacks on Saudi Arabia as a response to what they call a siege on Yemen, and the post by @SadeedNet1 carried the hashtags “siege for siege” and “escalation for escalation.” Saudi authorities had not commented on the claims about Dammam beyond the Civil Defense statement by Sunday evening.

Sunday’s alerts in Abha and Jazan each lasted less than 10 minutes, and no damage or casualties were reported in either area on Sunday or Monday.

Sources

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