Yemen’s Houthi group struck two Saudi airports this week, killing three people and wounding 36, Saudi aviation authorities said, and the group claimed a further missile attack on the capital’s main airport on Thursday.
The General Authority of Civil Aviation said Abha International Airport, in the southern province of Asir near the Yemeni border, was hit on Tuesday, and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was hit on Wednesday. Two women, a Moroccan and an Algerian, died in the Abha attack, which injured 28 others. A Sudanese resident was killed in Riyadh, and eight people were hurt there, including five Saudi citizens, two Egyptians and a Pakistani.
On Thursday, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on X that the group had again hit Riyadh’s airport with a ballistic missile, causing damage and disrupting air traffic. Saudi authorities had not commented on that claim at the time of reporting, and it could not be independently verified. Media outlets, including The Associated Press, reported explosions in the city and a blast at the airport.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 said the airport had closed again around 7 a.m., although another tracker showed a departure later in the day. One regional outlet reported more than 150 flights at the airport had been cancelled after the attacks.
The Saudi-led coalition said a Houthi ballistic missile was shot down north of Riyadh on Wednesday morning. Its spokesman, Turki al-Maliki, said the launch platform was later destroyed in the Yemeni capital Sanaa. The coalition has also reported intercepting a missile fired at the Riyadh airport on Sept. 18. On Sept. 19, an explosion near the airport sent black smoke over a fuel storage area.
The coalition said late on Wednesday that the attacks “will not go unpunished” and that it had destroyed 82 Houthi military sites in the Yemeni provinces of Saada, Hodeidah, Jawf and Marib. Saree warned airlines “for the last time” to stop flying through Saudi airspace.
The attacks come as Yemeni government forces press an offensive to retake territory around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait that the Houthis seized. The United Arab Emirates condemned the strikes.
