Saudi says three dead in airport attacks claimed by Houthis

Saudi authorities said Wednesday three people were killed in attacks on two of the kingdom’s international airports, including in the capital Riyadh, after Yemen’s Houthis claimed to have fired on both transport hubs.

The Iran-backed Houthis have claimed a wave of attacks on Saudi civilian infrastructure in recent weeks, which came as Riyadh-backed forces pressed a counter-offensive against the group’s territorial gains.

Since Yemen’s civil war reignited in July, more than 200,000 people have been displaced within the country, the United Nations said Wednesday.

The Houthis claimed an attack on Riyadh’s main airport, while the Saudi-led coalition — which backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government in its fight against the group — vowed retaliation.

The Houthis later claimed another attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Thursday and repeated a warning — “for the last time” — to airlines to avoid Saudi airspace.

“On Tuesday and Wednesday… Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport were subjected to attacks targeting their facilities,” Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said in a statement.

An Egyptian and an Algerian national were killed at Abha airport, while a Sudanese national was killed at Riyadh airport, the agency said.

The attacks wounded 36 people, it added.

“The brutal attacks by the Terrorist Houthi Militia on civilian and civilian objects in the Kingdom, most recently targeting (the two airports) will not go unpunished,” it wrote on X.

The coalition said it had retaliated by striking 82 “legitimate military targets”, including missile facilities, command centres, communications systems and Houthi gathering sites.

Yemen’s government declared a major counter-offensive against the Houthis this week, claiming to have pushed the fighters out of strategic areas on the Red Sea and the port city of Mocha.

But the Houthis insist they are holding their territory, and military sources from both sides contacted by AFP have not reported any major changes on the ground.

Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify with the situation moving fast and access for journalists difficult.