Iran-backed Houthis claim new attacks on Saudi Arabia as kingdom is pulled deeper into conflict

CAIRO (AP) — Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed new attacks on airports and military facilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia on Wednesday as the kingdom is pulled deeper into the latest front in the Iran war, which also threatens a crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

As the Saudi capital is targeted again, new cagelike fences have been erected this week around fuel tanks and other equipment of the Saudi state-run Aramco oil company near the Riyadh airport.

The Houthis’ military spokesperson, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, said on social media that the rebels launched ballistic missiles and drones against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said they intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh. Flights were briefly disrupted, according to Flightradar24.

The kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter, has faced a string of attacks on oil and military targets in recent days. Now Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni forces have launched a major ground and air offensive against the Houthis aiming to retake territory that the rebels seized a month ago along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Those positions gave the Houthis better surveillance as they pursue a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping. On Monday, officials said forces of the Saudi-led coalition recaptured several key areas around the strait, through which about 12% of global trade transits.

“The Houthis believe that they can maximize Saudi economic costs and compel Saudi Arabia to surrender to Houthi demands by striking civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities and airports,” the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in an analysis.

The Houthi spokesperson said they also targeted Abha airport in Saudi Arabia, a frequent target of rebel drones and missiles. The rebels also claimed to hit an air base in the city of Khamis Mushait and two military bases in Najran and Asir. All are in the southwest, near the Yemeni border.

Inside Yemen, fighting has centered in and around the crucial town of Dhubab, some 54 kilometers (33.5 miles) south of the port city of Mokha that the rebels seized last month, according to both the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognized government.

Clashes were also reported in Waziayah district in southwestern Taiz province, which links Yemen’s highlands to the Red Sea and overlooks roads to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Al-Malki has vowed “full operational support” to Yemeni government forces until the Houthis are “eliminated.” The coalition has said 100 fighter jets were providing support. Another aim is to liberate Sanaa, Yemen’s rebel-controlled capital.

The offensive began after the rebels seized Turbah town on a main road linking the provincial capital of Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, with Aden, the seat of the internationally recognized government. Officials have said U.S. support has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning.

The escalation has revived Yemen’s civil war after a four-year ceasefire. Almost 1,000 people have been killed in the latest fighting, with over 180,000 displaced, according to the United Nations. Cholera and malnutrition cases are increasing, access to trauma care is more difficult and some hospitals have shortages of surgical and other supplies, the World Health Organization said this week.

The Houthis also said they launched a missile strike early Wednesday against Aden. An Associated Press journalist heard explosions around 2 a.m.

The rebels hit a military camp close to the city's airport with ballistic missiles, Saree said. Security authorities in Aden said the Houthis targeted the airport with two missiles, with no casualties. The airport is close to the seat of government.

“The targeting of this vital civilian facility represents a direct threat to the safety of civilians, passengers, employees and flight crews,” the Aden police said in a statement.

One missile hit close to the runway just before the scheduled landing of a flight from Cairo, the Human Rights Ministry said. Flight 603, operated by Yemen’s flagship airline, landed safely in Aden at 3:30 a.m., according to flight tracking platform FlightAware.

The ministry said the missile hit as other passengers were waiting to board their flight to the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

Houthi supporters chant slogans during an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Houthi supporters attend an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

A Houthi supporter carries a rifle while attending an armed tribal rally in Sanaa, Yemen, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Displaced Yemeni women wait to receive aid supplies at the Al-Salam camp in Dar Saad district, Aden, Yemen, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

An aerial view shows the Al-Salam camp, which shelters displaced Yemenis, in Dar Saad district, Aden, Yemen, Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

A displaced Yemeni reads a newspaper at the Al-Firdaws camp in Ras Imran on the western outskirts of Aden, Yemen, Monday, Oct. 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdulnasser Alseddik)

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Henri B. Kagan and Kenso Soai won the Nobel Prize in chemistry Wednesday for their efforts to resolve mysterious mirror images in chemical molecules.

Many molecules of life come in versions that look alike but aren’t exactly identical, like right and left hands. One mirror-image of the chemical carvone smells like mint, for example, while the other has a whiff of caraway.

When designing drugs to treat diseases, scientists want to be choosy about which mirror-image they’re getting. They want the version of a molecule that’ll treat a cold, not the kind that’ll make the sniffles worse.

Kagan and Soai found ways to make chemistry pick a side, designing and manipulating reactions to produce the desired mirror-image.

“This is probably the coolest experiment in organic chemistry,” said Peter Somfai, a member of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry. “Taken together, the groundbreaking discoveries by Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai have reshaped our understanding of molecular chirality — how it is created, amplified and transmitted.”

“Homochirality” comes from the Greek words for “same” and “hand.”

“It might be difficult to say that this drug, or that drug, was developed using this,” Somfai said. “I would say all of them, because we use this as a tool, we use this as an understanding, how to develop catalysts, how they function.”

Kagan, 95 years old and born in France, is affiliated with Université Paris-Sud in Orsay, France, and Soai, born in Japan, with the Tokyo University of Science.

Kagan’s research dates back to the 1980s, when he found a new way to manipulate chemical reactions.

“I’m very excited to receive the very nice news,” Soai told the committee and journalists by phone. “Of course this is one of the most exciting days in my life.”

He said he was shopping near his home when he was reached by the Nobel committee.

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the winner in Stockholm.

Last year, three scientists won the chemistry Nobel for their development of new molecular structures that can trap vast quantities of gas inside, laying the groundwork to potentially suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere or harvest moisture from desert environments.

This year's prizes began with the Nobel for medicine, awarded Monday to three scientists whose work led to a tool that uses light to help unravel how the brain works. The physics award Tuesday recognized a scientist's efforts to demystify a rare group of neutrinos.

The literature prize is set to be awarded Thursday. After Friday’s peace prize is awarded, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced Monday.

The prize money this year is 12 million Swedish kronor (about $1.2 million), whether for an individual, a small group of laureates or an organization.

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This story has been corrected to clarify that Kagan, and not Soai, is 95 years old.

Ramakrishnan reported from New York and Dazio reported from Berlin. Associated Press journalist Alexa St. John contributed from Detroit.

AP Nobel Prizes: https://apnews.com/hub/nobel-prizes

Portraits of Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 7, 2026. Photo: (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)

Portraits of Henri Kagan and Kenso Soai are shown on the screen as they are awarded the 2026 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in Stockholm, Sweden, on Oct. 7, 2026. Photo: (Fredrik Sandberg/TT News Agency via AP)

FILE - A close-up view of a Nobel Prize medal at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., Dec. 8, 2020. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)