Three Killed in Houthi Attacks on Two Saudi Airports

Saudi authorities said Wednesday that three people were killed and 36 others wounded in attacks on two international airports, including Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, which Yemen’s Houthis claimed to have targeted.

The Iran-backed group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks, including a ballistic missile launch toward King Khalid International Airport, as fighting intensifies between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport came under attack on Tuesday and Wednesday. An Egyptian and an Algerian national were killed at Abha, while a Sudanese national died in Riyadh.

The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government said it had intercepted the missile aimed at Riyadh and destroyed the launch platform used to fire it. The coalition blamed the Houthis and vowed retaliation.

It later said its forces had destroyed 82 “legitimate military targets,” including ballistic missile facilities in mountainous areas, command-and-control centres, communication systems and Houthi gathering points.

The Houthis, who control much of northwestern Yemen, have been fighting Saudi-backed government forces since Yemen’s civil war reignited in July. The renewed conflict has displaced more than 200,000 people, according to the United Nations.

Yemen’s internationally recognised government has launched a major counter-offensive and says its forces have driven Houthi fighters from strategic areas along the Red Sea coast, including around the port city of Mocha. The Houthis, however, insist they continue to hold their positions. The rival claims could not be independently verified.

The Houthis also claimed to have targeted a military supply convoy near Aden, the interim seat of Yemen’s government. Yemen’s Saba news agency reported missile and drone attacks near Aden airport, saying one missile landed close to the runway shortly before a Cairo-bound flight was due to arrive, forcing the aircraft to divert to Jeddah.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree also claimed that drones and missiles targeted Abha airport and King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait. He said the group had successfully hit its targets.

The latest attacks come amid escalating fighting in Yemen. Saudi Arabia has led a coalition against the Houthis since 2015 and is now supporting government forces in their latest campaign to regain territory.

After a four-year ceasefire, the civil war resumed in July, with the Houthis last month capturing much of Yemen’s western Red Sea coastline in some of the conflict’s deadliest fighting in years.

At least 62 combatants, including 37 Houthis, were killed in fresh clashes in western Yemen on Wednesday, according to military sources from both sides cited by AFP. Saba also reported a Houthi missile attack on the government-held city of Taiz that wounded five civilians.

The renewed conflict has deepened Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, leaving most of the population dependent on humanitarian assistance. A 33-year-old aid worker who fled Mocha for Aden told AFP that residents in the area were “terrified” by the Houthi advance.