Cairo — Yemen's Houthi militia on Thursday claimed responsibility for fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia, targeting airports, an oil facility and the Defence Ministry headquarters, as the Iran-backed group stepped up strikes against the world's leading oil exporter.

Houthi military spokesman Yehya Saree said in a statement that the group had carried out four operations against Saudi Arabia over the past 48 hours, using ballistic missiles and drones.

The attacks targeted the Saudi Defence Ministry headquarters in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in the eastern city of Dammam, Abha airport in the kingdom's south-west and a facility operated by state oil giant Aramco in the port city of Yanbu, Saree said.

His statement came shortly after the Saudi-led military coalition announced that it had intercepted four drones over the Riyadh and Medina regions.

The coalition, which is fighting the Houthis in Yemen, did not report any casualties or damage.

Deadly attacks on airport and oil facility

The Houthis have stepped up attacks on neighbouring Saudi Arabia in recent weeks amid a renewed escalation of the war in Yemen, with airports and oil facilities among the main targets.

Earlier on Thursday, Saudi Arabia's aviation authority said two people had been killed and eight others injured in an attack on Dammam airport.

The attack on Wednesday evening also caused material damage, the extent of which was still being assessed, the authority said on X.

In a separate incident on Wednesday, two people were killed and two others injured by debris from an intercepted Houthi drone, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

The fatalities were a Filipino and a Nepali national, according to the Saudi Ministry of Energy.

Saudi air defences shot down the drone, which had targeted a processing facility at Aramco's Shaybah oil field, the ministry said.

Saudi Arabia backs Yemen's internationally recognized government and has led a military coalition fighting the Houthi rebels for more than a decade.

The conflict in Yemen has intensified again amid the wider war involving the US, Israel and Iran.

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