The Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-backed Houthis traded attacks on Sunday as fighting intensified in the intensifying conflict that has disrupted the lives of residents of the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh, and war-torn Yemen. order, but it follows a security alert and two drone interceptions around the capital, plus waves of Houthi attacks on Saudi targets in recent weeks. Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized government has launched repeated airstrikes against Houthi-controlled regions of Yemen. A suspected Saudi airstrike in northern Yemen’s Saada governorate on Sunday killed at least nine people and wounded 16 others, the Houthis’ Saba news agency reported. Meanwhile, the coalition said on Sunday that two pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed in Najran, near the border with Yemen, while the Houthis said they “shot down an Apache helicopter belonging to the Saudi enemy” in the same area. The coalition blamed a “technical malfunction” for the incident, which caused its first military deaths since the long war with the Houthis restarted in July. Schools in and around the Saudi capital also extended online learning to a second week, while Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport remains closed after 13 people were killed in a major attack The Saudi coalition’s decade-plus war against the Iran-backed Houthis has returned with ferocity during the US-Iran war, with regular attacks reported by both sides. Egypt’s parliament on Sunday postponed a vote on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request to authorize military support for Saudi Arabia, two lawmakers told AFP, extending deliberations until Monday. United States and its allies if Washington resumes its military campaign.- ‘Until further notice’ – Tenants of the Kingdom Centre, which rises above the center of Riyadh, include financial services giant Merrill Lynch, management consultancy McKinsey and the International Monetary Fund. “We inform you that teleworking is mandatory for all Kingdom Center office employees, with immediate effect and until further notice,” the building’s management said in an email seen by AFP. The shopping center at the foot of the building remains open. After a four-year truce, Yemen’s conflict has come back to life and intensified as the group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month. The Houthis have attacked Saudi targets, including oil tankers in the Red Sea, oil facilities and Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. A Houthi projectile wounded at least six people in southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday after hitting a residential area in Najran, near the border with Yemen, according to the kingdom’s civil defense agency. The coalition also said two ballistic missiles were intercepted in the south of the kingdom. Threat alerts for the city of Najran and As Sulayyil governorate in Riyadh province were issued but quickly canceled on Sunday. – Support from Egypt – The Houthis have declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia and captured territory around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the Red Sea chokepoint and a vital export route for Saudi oil since Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf. On Sunday, Egypt’s parliament held an emergency session after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi questioned lawmakers. to authorize support for the defense of Saudi Arabia against Houthi attacks. The session was extended until Monday “to give all lawmakers the opportunity to speak and express their views,” one of them told AFP. Sisi had said he was willing to “apply any measure to protect” Saudi Arabia if its leaders requested it. in Yemen, as well as persistent threats to shipping in the Straits of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in X. Saudi Arabia’s Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman also wrote in
