Houthis attack Saudi airports, oil facilities amid escalating clashes

In Sanaa, a Houthi military spokesperson claims it launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia's King Khalid International Airport, an oil facility in Rabigh as well as Abha airport and military sites in Khamis Mushait.

Explosions rocked capital Riyadh from late Monday to the early hours of Tuesday.

The Houthis have warned international airlines against using Saudi airspace, saying it had become "a theatre of war" amid escalating tensions.

The Yemeni government sources say forces of the Saudi-led coalition recaptured the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait up to Mocha City, pushing out most of the key areas the militia seized last month.

The coalition's naval forces also conducted an operation in Yemen's Red Sea governorate of Hodeidah.

Following an emergency meeting in Riyadh, the foreign and defence ministers of Pakistan and Turkey agree to rapidly deploy military forces to Saudi Arabia under the Mecca defences pact signed in August.

The countries condemn in the strongest terms Houthis' attempt to strike Islam's holiest sites - Mecca and Medina - along with its attacks targeting civilian and economic facilities in the kingdom.