Yemen’s Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced late on October 17 that they shot down a Saudi AH-64 Apache attack helicopter near the border with the kingdom’s southern province of Najran.

In a statement, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, the movement’s military spokesman, said the American-made helicopter had been targeting Houthi positions along the border.

“Our armed forces, with the help and grace of God, managed to shoot down an Apache belonging to the Saudi enemy opposite Najran while it was carrying out hostile actions against our forces’ positions along the border,” Saree said. “It was shot down with a suitable weapon.”

The Houthis operate a range of air defense systems, from man-portable weapons to interceptors and medium-range surface-to-air missiles.

The Apache is Saudi Arabia’s principal attack helicopter, with a modernized AH-64E estimated to cost about $52 million per helicopter according to recent U.S. Army procurement figures.

Open-source inventories list 22 Apaches with the Royal Saudi Land Forces and 12 others with the Saudi Arabian National Guard.

The announcement came just days after the Houthis said they had struck a Saudi Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet over Yemen’s Saada province. The group later released footage showing a missile hitting the jet during flight, supporting its claim.

Including the latest claim, the Houthis have announced 18 shootdowns since the start of the ongoing confrontation with Saudi Arabia. Aside from an American-made F-15SA fighter jet, all other warplanes shot down by the Houthis were combat drones.

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Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi on October 17 called for an emergency parliamentary session to authorize a possible Egyptian intervention to defend Saudi Arabia if requested by the kingdom.

“I call on parliament to convene an emergency session to authorize us to take action to intervene in defense of Saudi Arabia, if we are asked to do so,” El-Sisi said at a graduation ceremony for military academy and college cadets.

“This move and this defense require approval from the Egyptian parliament,” he noted, stressing that Egypt was not seeking to join the war against Yemen’s Houthis.

“I am not speaking about attacking or waging war. We are seeking only to defend,” the Egyptian president added.

Egypt is the latest country to publicly signal support for Saudi Arabia as the kingdom faces escalating missile and drone attacks by the Houthis, who control much of Yemen.

El-Sisi said Cairo would take the necessary measures to protect Saudi Arabia, adding that it was “absolutely unacceptable” for the kingdom’s security and stability to be undermined.

Saudi Arabia has secured defensive military support from Pakistan and Turkey through the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, which the three countries agreed to activate on October 5. More recently, the kingdom also received defensive support from the United Kingdom and France.

The United States, for its part, has been providing more substantial military support to Saudi Arabia, including intelligence sharing, operational planning and assistance identifying Houthi targets, as well as weapons and air defense systems.

Still, Riyadh has so far failed to secure a publicly announced commitment from its allies to directly join its offensive against the Houthis inside Yemen.

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The Houthis (Ansar Allah) announced on October 15 that their air defenses had hit a Saudi Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet over the Yemeni province of Saada.

In a statement, Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said that the warplane had taken off from Taif Air Base in western Saudi Arabia before being engaged over northern Yemen.

“It was directly hit and is at risk of crashing,” Saree added.

The reported engagement follows the Houthis’ September 16 downing of a Saudi F-15SA fighter jet over the central province of Marib. At the time, the group said it used a locally made surface-to-air missile, without elaborating. Saudi Arabia is yet to acknowledge the loss. The fate of the pilot and the weapons system officer also remain unknown.

The fighter incidents have come alongside four Houthi-reported shootdowns of combat drones this month so far. On October 5, the group said it downed a Chinese-made Wing Loong II over the southwestern province of Taiz.

Two days later, it announced the destruction of a CH-4 over the northern province of Al-Jawf, followed by a Turkish-made Bayraktar Akinci over Taiz on October 8. On October 13, Houthi forces reported another Wing Loong II shootdown over Saada.

The Houthis possess fairly capable air defenses, ranging from man-portable systems to interceptors and medium-range anti-aircraft missiles.

The recent engagements indicate the group’s air defense capabilities are growing, which would further complicate Saudi aerial operations over Yemen.

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Yemen’s Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree announced on October 14 that the group had attacked Saudi Aramco facilities in Dhahran and Riyadh and at King Khalid International Airport, threatening further strikes against the kingdom.

In a statement, Saree said the operation involved “a large number of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones.” The spokesman claimed the weapons struck their targets accurately, causing destruction and fires at the targeted sites.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said a day earlier that an attack had caused a limited fire in an administrative building at Aramco’s complex in Dhahran, in the kingdom’s Eastern Province. No injuries or fatalities were reported.

A source at the company told Reuters that a ballistic missile struck an office tower in the complex, damaging its top three floors.

Saree said the attacks were retaliation for Saudi strikes on Sanaa and other areas under Houthi control. He claimed Saudi Arabia had carried out 2,281 airstrikes and missile attacks against Yemen during the current escalation, accusing the kingdom of committing dozens of crimes.

The spokesman warned that Houthi operations against targets inside Saudi Arabia would continue over the coming days, specifically threatening airports and oil installations.

He urged international shipping companies, civilians and workers to stay away from the targeted sites and called for the immediate evacuation of the sites, declaring them “legitimate targets” for Houthi forces.

The latest threats came after the Saudi-led coalition launched strikes against Houthi-held areas a day earlier, including the al-Sabah fuel facility on the outskirts of Sanaa. The coalition had warned civilians to evacuate the area, saying the operation was intended to neutralize Houthi capabilities to threaten Saudi Arabia, Yemen and international waterways.

The Saudi Civil Defense said debris from two intercepted Houthi missiles fell on residential areas in Riyadh, injuring four people and damaging 15 homes.

On October 14, residents reported hearing new explosions in the capital, and the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted a ballistic missile launched toward Riyadh. No casualties or damage were immediately reported from that incident.

The exchanges follow a series of Houthi attacks on Saudi airports. A strike on King Khalid International Airport on October 10 killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, according to Saudi authorities. Another attack the following day killed one person and injured 11, further disrupting aviation operations in the kingdom.

The renewed fighting is part of a broader escalation in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia is backing forces aligned with the internationally recognized government against the Houthis. The Saudi-led campaign intensified after Houthi forces made advances along Yemen’s Red Sea coast toward the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

Saree said the Houthis would continue to match what he called Saudi “escalation with escalation” and maintain a policy of “blockade for blockade” until Saudi Arabia ends its military campaign and lifts the blockade on Yemen.

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