Saudi Arabia Reopens Riyadh Airport After Houthi Attacks Kill Three

Saudi Arabia has reopened King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh after attacks by the Houthi movement killed three people and wounded many others. The country's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said in a social media statement on Friday that Thursday's strikes hit airport infrastructure and an aircraft belonging to the national carrier Saudia.

According to GACA, Thursday's attacks caused light to severe injuries as well as material damage. Operations at the airport have now resumed and air traffic has returned to normal. Saudia said one of its pilots was killed and an aircraft was damaged.

The national airline expressed its condolences over the death of Captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, referring to an "incident" at Riyadh airport.

Saudi Arabia has come under repeated Houthi attacks in recent days, with airports seemingly the main target. GACA said earlier this week that attacks had killed three civilians and wounded 36 at Abha and King Khalid airports. At least three people were also wounded in further strikes targeting Jazan and Najran airports near the Yemeni border.

A Houthi military spokesman said on Thursday that the armed group had fired a ballistic missile toward King Khalid airport, claiming the missile struck its intended target, causing damage and disrupting air traffic.

The campaign appears to be a repeat of a tactic seen last month. On September 18, the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed a suspected Houthi ballistic missile fired toward King Khalid airport. A day later, at least one explosion was heard near the airport in Riyadh, along with a large black plume of smoke rising from a fuel storage area.

The Houthis have warned airlines to avoid Saudi airspace, declaring that any aircraft operating there, except over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, would be a target.

'Significant force'

The renewed attacks on Saudi airports come as Yemeni forces continue a counteroffensive against the Houthis. The counteroffensive was launched after the Iran-backed rebel group last month seized a large swath of territory along the strategic Bab al-Mandeb strait, which links the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, in a surprise advance.

Yemeni government forces this week claimed significant gains around the Bab al-Mandeb coastline, but fierce fighting continues. The conflict, which had been frozen for several years until being reignited by the US war against Iran, has added to instability in a region already unsettled by Israel's wars in Gaza and Lebanon.

The conflict now risks drawing in other countries, as Pakistan and Turkey have agreed to deploy troops under a joint defense pact signed with Saudi Arabia earlier this year. A Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday that his country now has "a significant force and resources ... in Riyadh."

He said Pakistani military personnel "will not cross the border of the other side to attack the Houthis, but of course will act to defend territory."

Missile launchers

The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government said on Friday it had destroyed three missile launchers used by the Houthis "to threaten regional security." Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said any Houthi attacks on civilians and civilian facilities "will be met with a firm response" by the coalition.

On Thursday, the coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles flying toward Riyadh, along with one heading toward the city of Khamis Mushait near the Yemeni border. Earlier in the week, coalition armed forces carried out 97 "precision-targeted operations" against Houthi reinforcements on the Tor al-Baha front and the Taiz axis, using fighter jets, drones, artillery, missiles and snipers.