Houthis strike Riyadh, air raid alert in the Saudi capital.

For the first time since the beginning of the conflict, an air raid siren sounded in the skies of Riyadh. During the night, explosions woke residents of the Saudi capital, with flames and a column of black smoke rising near the city's airport. Firefighters intervened to extinguish a fire involving a fuel tank at the state oil giant Aramco.

The attack was claimed by the Houthi rebels of Yemen, who in a statement described their actions as "legitimate armed resistance in the face of prolonged Saudi aggression." A member of their government in Sanaa, Muhammad Mansur, told ANSA that they do not wish to involve Italy but posed a polemical question: "We wonder what Italian aircraft are doing in Saudi Arabia supporting Riyadh's war against us." The attack comes the day after a strike against an Italian Eurofighter jet stationed at the Saudi base in Ta'if.

The conflict in Yemen began in 2014, when the Iran-backed Houthi rebel movement took control of the capital Sanaa and large areas of the north of the country, ousting the internationally recognized government. In March 2015, a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates intervened militarily to restore the legitimate government, sparking a devastating war that has caused one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

The Houthis, who control much of western Yemen, have progressively developed the capability to strike targets within Saudi Arabia using drones and missiles. Riyadh, protected by sophisticated air defense systems, had so far remained shielded from direct attacks of this magnitude. Today's escalation, which hits the economic and symbolic heart of the kingdom (Aramco is the national oil company), marks a significant raising of the stakes. The presence of Italian aircraft at Saudi bases is part of the international, albeit limited, support for the coalition led by Riyadh.