Houthis deny targeting Medina after Saudi Arabia says it intercepted missile

Yemen's Houthi movement said on Thursday that it carried out no attack on Saudi Arabia, hours after Riyadh announced it had intercepted a missile aimed at the region around the holy city of Medina. The competing statements left the two sides offering directly conflicting accounts of what happened, with no independent confirmation reported by France 24.

In a post on X, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the Yemeni armed forces had conducted no operation targeting Saudi territory that day. He described the Saudi assertion of an attack on Medina as a shameless and brazen lie.

The denial followed the Saudi announcement that its forces had intercepted a missile directed at the Medina area. France 24, citing AFP, reported no further Saudi detail on the interception or on where the projectile was brought down.

Medina is one of Islam's holiest cities and lies in western Saudi Arabia, a fact that gives any reported threat to the area particular sensitivity. The Saudi kingdom has for years faced cross-border attacks linked to the conflict in neighbouring Yemen.

France 24 also pointed readers to earlier coverage in which the Houthis threatened escalation after a strike on Saudi oil giant Aramco, underscoring the wider pattern of hostilities between the two sides. Neither the Houthi nor the Saudi statements reported in Thursday's account included details on casualties or damage.