Saudi-led coalition says power station attacked in Medina, blames Houthis

What the report says

The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthi movement said this week that an electricity distribution station in Medina, Saudi Arabia, was attacked and blamed the Iran-aligned group for the incident. According to the coalition, the facility supplies power to the Prophet’s Mosque, and the attack put one transformer out of service without disrupting the wider grid. The coalition said its review of drone debris supported its conclusion, while a Houthi source cited by the movement’s Saba news agency denied the allegation.

The statement comes amid broader cross-border tension between the two sides. The coalition also said it intercepted and destroyed several drones and ballistic missiles it attributed to the Houthis over southern Saudi Arabia. In a separate claim, Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces said they were repelling a large Houthi assault in Taiz province, in southwestern Yemen, and said they had inflicted heavy losses. The fighting was reported across districts west and southeast of Taiz.

The article places the events within Yemen’s wider war, where Taiz has remained a key front and a major destination for internally displaced people. It also notes that Saudi Arabia approved new budget support for Yemen’s internationally recognised government, amounting to 224 million Saudi riyals, or about $59.7 million. Separately, the story recalls that the Houthis recently expanded their position around the strategic Bab al-Mandeb corridor, a major shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.