Houthi projectile injures six in Saudi city of Najran; coalition says helicopter crash killed two officers

A projectile fired by Yemen’s Houthis hit a residential site in the southern Saudi city of Najran on Sunday 18 October, injuring six people and damaging three homes and three vehicles, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency said on X.

The Saudi-led coalition said a national guard AH-6i reconnaissance helicopter crashed in the Najran area “as a result of a technical malfunction”, killing its two officers, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki said, according to the official Saudi Press Agency. The Houthis said they had “downed an Apache helicopter belonging to the Saudi enemy” in the same area, AFP reported.

The Houthis’ Saba news agency said a Saudi airstrike in northern Yemen on Sunday killed at least nine people and wounded 16. The coalition did not comment on that report. In Riyadh, the management of the Kingdom Centre tower told office tenants to work remotely “until further notice”, AFP reported.

In Cairo, Egypt’s parliament postponed until Monday a vote on President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s request to authorise military support for Saudi Arabia, two lawmakers told AFP. Sisi said on Saturday that Egypt was ready to defend Saudi Arabia “if requested”, adding: “We are speaking only about defense.”

Yemen’s foreign minister, Afrah Alzouba, rejected Iran’s offer to mediate, saying “Tehran has made itself a party to the war on Yemenis”, CBS News reported. Iran’s foreign ministry said on Friday it “rejects any claim that Iran has played a role” in Houthi operations.

None of the casualty claims could be independently verified.

Background

The war between the Houthis and Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition, resumed in July 2026 after four years of relative calm. Since then the Houthis have attacked Saudi energy sites and airports, including a strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport about a week ago that killed 13 people, according to AFP. Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said on Saturday that Tehran supports “an inclusive and comprehensive political process” to end the conflict.