Saudi Arabia strikes the Houthis largest fuel depot as the toll reaches at least 20

Saudi Arabia carried the war back into Yemen on Tuesday, striking the fuel depot it says powers the missile campaign against the kingdom, and the Houthis answered within hours with missiles and drones of their own.

The Saudi led coalition said its forces hit Al Sabaha Central Station, the rebels largest fuel distribution hub in northern Yemen, with a storage capacity of about 58,000 metric tonnes. The coalition said the Houthis use the facility to support operations against sites inside the kingdom and against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, and that civilians were warned to leave the area beforehand. The Houthi controlled Yemen Oil Company had said the station held no petroleum stocks. The Houthis said the strikes killed two civilians and wounded two.

Hours later the coalition said it intercepted and destroyed three cruise missiles and two drones aimed at the Riyadh region and southern Saudi Arabia. At least four people were injured by falling debris as of Tuesday, Saudi authorities said. An administrative building belonging to the state oil company Aramco in Dhahran, in the Eastern Province, was also targeted and caught a limited fire. The Energy Ministry said no one was injured there. Earlier on Tuesday the coalition reported intercepting a ballistic missile aimed at the eastern province, another aimed at Haradh near the Yemeni border, and three drones north of Riyadh.

The week of attacks has now killed at least 20 people as of Tuesday, most of them in the Saturday strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and the airport remains shut. The United States State Department widened its restrictions on Tuesday: American government employees in the kingdom now need special authorization from the chief of mission to use any Saudi airport. On the ground in Yemen, government forces said their operation had carried out 2,200 strikes against Houthi positions in the past day and killed about 1,200 fighters. Those figures come from the Yemeni government and could not be independently verified. The Houthis vowed further attacks on Aramco facilities and the Riyadh airport if Saudi strikes continue.