Houthis target Aramco refinery, Saudi capital airport as Mecca defence pact activated

BREAKING: Yemen's Houthis claim missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's Riyadh airport and an Aramco refinery, as the Mecca defence pact is activated and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces intensify their offensive.

Yemen's Houthis say they've hit Riyadh's airport and an Aramco refinery with missiles and drones.

The claimed targets tell you how far this has escalated. King Khalid International is the front door of the Saudi capital, and you can see it here, one of the busiest hubs in the Gulf. The other target is an Aramco refinery, which means the Houthis are going straight at the asset that funds the entire kingdom. Oil infrastructure is the pressure point, and they know it.

This comes as the Makkah defence pact is formally activated, the agreement that's bringing Turkish and Pakistani forces onto Saudi soil. On the ground in Yemen, Saudi-backed forces are stepping up their own offensive at the same time. Both sides are escalating at once, and nobody's blinking.

So the war is no longer contained to Yemen. It's reaching the Saudi capital, the oil, and now three armies.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.