Iran-backed Houthi rebels have launched coordinated strikes on two major civilian airports in Saudi Arabia, leaving three foreign nationals dead and at least 36 others injured. Saudi civil aviation authorities confirmed that the separate incidents targeted Abha International Airport in the south-west of the kingdom and King Khalid International Airport in the capital, Riyadh.
The attacks mark a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni militia group. At Abha International Airport, an assault resulted in the deaths of a Moroccan national and an Algerian citizen, alongside injuries to 28 others. Meanwhile, a strike in proximity to Riyadh’s principal international hub claimed the life of a Sudanese national and left eight people wounded.
Although Saudi civil aviation officials initially refrained from explicitly attributing blame in their public statements, Houthi rebel commanders had earlier claimed full responsibility for both operations.
Following a series of long-range targeting attempts directed at the capital over recent days, energy authorities have heightened defensive measures around vital infrastructure. State-owned oil titan Saudi Aramco has erected specialized protective cage enclosures around fuel storage tanks situated near King Khalid International Airport to mitigate the risk of explosive drone and missile fragments. As the world’s leading crude exporter, Saudi Arabia faces growing vulnerability across its commercial and energy transport networks, which has placed critical maritime and overland transit corridors under severe strain.
Major General Turki al-Malki, spokesperson for the Saudi-led military coalition, stated that air defence units successfully intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile north of Riyadh. He added that coalition forces subsequently located and neutralised a launch platform in Sana’a used to execute the strike. These operational assertions could not be independently verified.
In response to the strikes, the coalition alongside aligned Yemeni ground units has intensified combined air and land offensives along Yemen’s western Red Sea coastline and the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait. Coalition units have reportedly reclaimed several key vantage points surrounding the strait, a critical maritime choke point through which approximately 12 per cent of global trade passes daily.
