SANA’A – Yemen’s armed forces announced Monday that they had carried out four military operations against Saudi targets in the past 24 hours, striking King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, and two Aramco energy facilities, in direct retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on Yemeni civilian infrastructure.
Yemeni Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said in a statement that the first operation targeted King Khalid International Airport in three phases starting Saturday evening, disrupting air traffic and forcing a complete closure of the facility. 
The second operation struck Aramco’s Shugaydum gas facility in eastern Saudi Arabia, which Saree said was hit directly and caught fire. A third operation targeted the Tanajib refinery, also in the east, and a fourth struck King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, forcing a halt to operations.
Saree also said Yemeni forces targeted Saudi military gatherings in Ras al-Ara and Al-Suqya, south of Bab al-Mandab, with ballistic missiles, causing dozens of casualties. He said Yemeni air defenses 
engaged Saudi warplanes with locally manufactured surface-to-air missiles, forcing them to withdraw.
The operations came after what Saree described as 124 Saudi airstrikes on Yemen in the past 24 hours, targeting Sana’a, Ta’izz, Ma’rib, Al-Jawf, Hajjah, Al-Hudaydah and Sa’ada provinces.
Saudi Arabia was forced to extend the suspension of all flights to and from its main international airport in Riyadh on Monday after a further round of missile strikes caused more damage and left one dead.
King Khalid international airport was being kept closed to complete verification of the airport’s safety, the Saudi aviation authority said.
The closure came as the country pressed ahead with the 25th WPC Energy Conference in Riyadh, hoping to project an image of normality.
However, several top energy executives were dropped from the schedule. The head executives of ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Shell, Chevron, and BP were expected at the event. On Monday, they were no longer listed on the agenda that the conference organizers put out.
Meanwhile, an urgent review is under way as to how Yemeni missiles are repeatedly penetrating badly stretched Saudi air defenses.  
The crown prince, Muhammad bin Salman, himself has not been seen in public since Tuesday last week, reflecting the pressure he is under to find a way out from a war that has instigated since 2014.
Yemen has vowed to attack Saudi airports across the country. Yemeni attacks since last month have targeted fuel tanks at Riyadh airport and its affiliated warehouses, destroying a parked Airbus A320 passenger plane and damaging at least five other aircraft.
In southwestern Ta’izz province, Yemeni forces continued to tighten their siege on the city, with all exits now blocked, according to military sources from both sides cited by AFP. 
Fierce fighting in the past 24 hours killed at least 22 Saudi mercenaries, the sources said, with Ansarullah sending reinforcements to the city’s outskirts.
Ansarullah-led Yemeni forces were reported to have taken a strategic position on Jabal Sabir, the mountain overlooking Ta’izz, strengthening their grip on the city. Military sources told AFP that Ansarullah launched several attacks overnight on the positions of Saudi mercenaries south of the city.
Saudi warplanes have been conducting airstrikes on the positions of Yemeni forces around Ta’izz to relieve pressure on the besieged mercenaries, with six rounds of strikes reported on Sunday alone. Thousands of mercenaries and Saudi forces remain trapped in a narrow area around the city after Yemeni forces cut the last major road into Ta’izz earlier this month.
In the Bab al-Mandab Strait area, Ansarullah politburo member Hizam al-Asad reiterated that Sana’a holds full control of the strategic waterway and the Red Sea, even before taking control of the western coast.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces have many surprises. If Saudi Arabia continues its aggression and blockade, more surprises await it,” al-Asad told Al-Mayadeen.
Field reports indicated that Saudi-backed Giants Brigade factions began withdrawing Monday from positions along the coastal road linking Lahj province to Bab al-Mandab, evacuating posts in Al-Mudaraba and Ras al-Ara that had been securing supply lines to forces advancing south of the strait. 
Tribal sources in Lahj said vehicles and armored vehicles were seen withdrawing toward Aden, suggesting the Saudi-backed forces had received intelligence that Ansarullah-led Yemeni forces was close to securing control of the strategic coastal road.
Yemeni forces have recently made wide advances in Al-Mudaraba district, capturing the Jabal Hawab and Jabal Harouz mountains overlooking the coastal road. The sudden evacuation of Giants Brigade positions indicates the collapse of the Saudi-backed defense line near Bab al-Mandab.
The Saudi-backed former fugitive regime in Aden has seen its military position deteriorate rapidly. Government military sources acknowledged that thousands of troops remain besieged in Ta’izz, with supply lines cut and reinforcements unable to reach them. 
The fugitive regime’s “Yemen Dawn” counteroffensive, launched earlier this month with Saudi air support, has failed to reverse Ansarullah’s gains.