The Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said ​on Sunday it had intercepted two ‌Houthi ballistic missiles launched towards the Saudi capital Riyadh and three drones in ​the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province.

The Houthis, ​who control most of the populous ⁠parts of Yemen, have intensified ​attacks on the Saudi capital in recent ​days. A Houthi attack last week damaged an administrative building of the state oil company Saudi ​Aramco in Riyadh’s financial hub, Reuters reported.

The ​Eastern Province, the economic powerhouse of Saudi Arabia, ‌has ⁠been subject to multiple attacks by Houthis in the past few weeks.

It contains the majority of the kingdom’s oil ​and gas ​reserves ⁠and is home to Aramco’s headquarters, which suffered extensive damage ​in an attack in October.

The ​Houthis ⁠have stepped up strikes on Saudi airports, ports and oil facilities, while ⁠Saudi ​Arabia has ramped up ​airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in response.

Saudi Arabia said debris from two ballistic missiles ​intercepted by its air defences fell in the Mecca ‌region on Wednesday, as the kingdom and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis continued to trade attacks in an escalating conflict.

Saudi state television identified the locations as Sabuhah village, ​about 35 km (22 miles) northeast of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, ​and Wadi al-Maghmas, about 21 km east of the ⁠mosque, Reuters reported.

The missiles were launched towards the region and intercepted and destroyed, ​Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said in a statement.

The Houthis have repeatedly denied ​Saudi accusations that they target Mecca and Medina, Islam’s two holiest cities, saying their military operations are directed at military and strategic targets elsewhere in Saudi Arabia.

Mecca, ​home to sites sacred to Muslims worldwide, is the focal ​point of the annual hajj pilgrimage, one of the five pillars of Islam, which ‌millions ⁠of Muslims undertake each year.

“This hostile targeting of civilian objects constitutes a flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and reflects the dangerous hostile approach pursued by the Houthi militia,” Saudi Arabia’s civil defence said ​early on Thursday.

The ​Houthis seized ⁠Yemen’s capital Sanaa in 2014, prompting Saudi Arabia to intervene militarily the following year in support of ​the internationally recognised government.

A UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely ​froze ⁠the conflict, but hostilities resumed earlier this year, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory and Riyadh carrying out airstrikes ⁠in ​Yemen.

The latest escalation has threatened the strategic Bab ​el-Mandeb Strait, a key shipping route linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as ​few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of ​Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”, Reuters reported.

“Is it unreasonable that ​Iran demands that US illegal sanctions ⁠and its naval blockade must be lifted ​before negotiations start and that the war should ​end on all fronts?” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference in response to ​Rubio’s remarks.

Iran defended a proposal on Monday to restart peace talks in as ​few as two days as the ‌most reasonable offer on the table, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio called some of ​Iran’s conditions “outrageous and ridiculous”.

“Is it unreasonable that ​Iran demands that US illegal sanctions ⁠and its naval blockade must be lifted ​before negotiations start and that the war should ​end on all fronts?” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told a weekly press conference in response to ​Rubio’s remarks.