More than 100 flights from Riyadh were cancelled on Thursday after the Houthis said they targeted the capital’s airport with a ballistic missile, as the conflict between the kingdom and Iran-backed rebels continues to escalate.
Residents reported that loud booms were heard in the city on Thursday morning, and a spokesman for the Houthis claimed to have attacked the main King Khalid International Airport with a ballistic missile.
There was no confirmation from Saudi authorities, and the Saudi-led coalition fighting the rebel group said it intercepted two missiles over the capital.
But 169 of 378 departing flights had been cancelled by mid-afternoon, according to data from Cirium, more than 40 per cent of the day’s services.
King Khalid airport said on Thursday afternoon that passengers should contact their airline directly to confirm flight status before travelling to the airport.
Airline Saudia had 140 departing flights scheduled for the day, of which 97 were cancelled, according to Cirium. Turkish Airlines cancelled all four planned services, while carriers including Qatar Airways, Oman Air, Flynas and Flyadeal pulled about a third of their flights.
The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fragments from the interception of a ballistic missile caused damage to a medical clinic complex and a kindergarten, Saudi civil defence officials said on Thursday.
The flight disruptions come weeks before Saudi Arabia gears up to hold the Future Investment Initiative conference, its flagship annual event that attracts top executives, investors and bankers from around the world. The event is scheduled for October 26-29 in Riyadh.
The barrage came after the kingdom said that three people had been killed and dozens injured in Houthi attacks on Saudi airports earlier this week, including Riyadh.
A Sudanese man was killed and seven other people were injured in an attack on King Khalid airport on Wednesday, Saudi aviation authorities said. Two women were killed and 30 people injured in another strike on Abha airport in the kingdom’s south-west on Tuesday.
The attacks were claimed by Iran-backed Houthis who warned international airlines that they would continue target Saudi airspace, according to a statement by Brigadier General Yahya Saree, a military spokesperson for the group.
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Yemeni government forces advance on Houthi positions in towns located near the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Monday
The latest exchanges of fire come as fighting continues on multiple battlefronts across Yemen between Houthi rebels and forces of the internationally recognised Yemeni government that is supported by Saudi Arabia. The long-running conflict reignited in July.
“The brutal attacks by the terrorist Houthi Militia on civilian objects in the kingdom . . . will not go unpunished,” said Major General Turki al-Maliki, a military spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition, in a statement.
The Yemeni armed forces said on Thursday that it conducted 2,103 “precision-targeting operations” against the Houthis in several provinces, according to the government-linked Saba state news agency.
The government forces, backed by Saudi air strikes, launched a major blitz on Sunday to recapture all Yemeni territory from the Houthis who last month took control of the areas overlooking the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait in a lightning offensive.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 in an attempt to restore the internationally recognised government after the Houthis took over the capital Sana’a.
A truce agreed in 2022 between the kingdom and the Houthis collapsed in July after the rebels declared a blockade on the kingdom’s Red Sea ports and attacked Saudi ships and oil infrastructure.