Saudi-led coalition says it intercepts three Houthi missiles, four drones

• Coalition says three ballistic missiles targeting Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province and four drones heading towards the south were destroyed.
• Explosions reported in Sanaa and along Yemen’s Red Sea coast as fighting around Taiz reaches a critical stage.
• UK maritime agency reports a vessel on fire near Iraq, while an Iranian military commander claims control over the Strait of Hormuz.

The Saudi-led coalition said on Tuesday that its air defences had intercepted and destroyed three ballistic missiles and four drones launched by Yemen’s Houthis towards Saudi Arabia.

Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Malki said in a statement on X that the three ballistic missiles had been directed at the Kingdom’s Eastern Province. An earlier coalition statement said four Houthi drones heading towards southern Saudi Arabia had also been intercepted and destroyed.

The announcements came amid reports of intensified fighting around Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, where control of the nearby Jabal Sabr mountain is considered crucial to holding the city.

Analysts cited by Al Jazeera described the battle for the mountain as a potentially decisive phase in the struggle for Taiz. They said its importance went beyond symbolism, with the surrounding geography making it essential to maintaining control over the city.

Meanwhile, explosions were reported in the Houthi-controlled capital, Sanaa, and along the Red Sea coast. Residents in western Sanaa said they heard at least four blasts, although the targets remained unclear.

A woman reportedly living near a Houthi base said a powerful explosion shattered windows in her home and neighbouring houses.

In the port city of Mokha, which the reports described as recently seized by the Houthis, a resident said a rocket struck a four-storey residential building. The resident also reported damage to at least 10 other homes and a hospital.

Separately, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre reported receiving multiple third-party accounts of a vessel on fire approximately 63 nautical miles southeast of Al-Faw, Iraq.

The agency said the cause of the incident had not been established. The crew’s condition, the extent of the damage and any environmental impact were also unknown at the time of its report.

Al-Faw is an Iraqi port town on the Gulf, close to Kuwait and Iran.

Meanwhile, Major General Ali Abdollahi, identified in the report as the chief of staff of Iran’s armed forces, claimed that Iranian military and naval forces had full control and oversight of the Gulf’s coasts, islands and the Strait of Hormuz.

Al Jazeera, citing Iran’s Tasnim news agency, reported that Abdollahi rejected statements by US leaders as propaganda. He described the strategic waterway as completely closed and said vessels could not pass through it outside Iranian regulations.