US Central Command chief Adm Brad Cooper visited Saudi Arabia and met Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, as Yemen's Houthi rebels stepped up attacks on the kingdom.
Saudi Press Agency reported that Prince Mohammed received Adm Cooper and his accompanying delegation in Jeddah.
During the meeting, they reviewed relations between Saudi Arabia and the US, as well as the latest developments in the region, SPA said.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control Yemen's most populous areas and much of the north, have been launching attacks on Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against the kingdom in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.
Saudi Civil Defence on Monday issued alerts warning of potential danger in the cities of Najran, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Abha. It later issued all-clear notices for the four southern cities amid an increase in Houthi attacks.
The southern cities have been subject to regular alerts since last week, culminating in drone strikes on Friday that knocked out the 1,200km East-West pipeline across the Arabian Peninsula, which has served as a major route for Middle East oil exports, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis also said on Friday that they had captured Perim island, which lies in the Bab Al Mandeb, the “Gate of Tears” strait that provides access to the southern entrance of the Red Sea.
Saudi Arabia has not provided full details of the extent of damage to the pipeline nor said how long it will remain offline. Satellite images showed thick columns of smoke rising from various sites along the pipeline.
The Houthis, who captured the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014, have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition for more than a decade but had largely stayed out of the wider Middle East conflict until recent weeks. Their advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast is part of the biggest escalation in fighting in the country in years.
On Monday, the Houthis said they had carried out a “large-scale military operation” targeting military infrastructure at King Khalid Airbase in Khamis Mushait, in response to what they described as Saudi aggression against Yemen.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the attack involved dozens of ballistic missiles and drones targeting aircraft hangars, radar installations, runways, ammunition depots and other facilities at the base.
He said the attacks followed more than 300 Saudi air strikes across most Yemeni provinces in the past five days, involving F-15 and Typhoon fighter jets launched from the Khamis Mushait and Taif airbases.
