Three Saudi citizens were killed in attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels targeting Riyadh’s international airport, a barrage that prompted hundreds of flight cancellations and several carriers to suspend services.
The first attack on Thursday, the latest escalation in the conflict between the Iran-backed group and the kingdom, targeted facilities at the capital’s King Khalid International Airport, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Friday. The second hit an aircraft belonging to flag carrier Saudia.
Saudia said the aircraft was damaged but did not have any passengers on board when the attack took place. The airline identified one of the three Saudi nationals killed as pilot Hamoud al-Kalthami. It was the first reported death of Saudi nationals since the war flared up in July.
Statements from the aviation authority and the airline did not identify those responsible, but the Houthis claimed to have targeted the airport with ballistic and cruise missiles on Thursday, according to the group’s military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree.
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Thick black smoke and flames at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport after the Houthis' attack
Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said on Friday that three missile launch pads used by the Houthis were destroyed. “Houthi attacks on civilians and civilian objects will be met with a firm response,” he added.
Services at King Khalid airport from Saudi carriers had resumed on Friday and were running as expected, according to data provider Flightradar24.
However, flights operated by foreign carriers — including Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and Flydubai — were cancelled.
Airlines including Lufthansa, Air India and Singapore Airlines announced that they were suspending flights to Riyadh following the attacks.
Many of the major foreign carriers — including British Airways and Air France — had not yet resumed services to the country since the US and Israel launched the war against Iran in February.
This week, a Sudanese man was killed and seven other people were injured in an attack on King Khalid airport, 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 Houthis have escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia in recent weeks after announcing a maritime blockade against the kingdom in July.
The rebels last month mounted a lightning advance along Yemen’s Red Sea coast to tighten their grip on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a critical international waterway.
Yemeni government forces, who are backed by Saudi Arabia, have in recent days launched an offensive to recapture all territory from the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 in an attempt to restore the internationally recognised government. But the conflict reignited after a truce between the kingdom and the Iran-backed rebels collapsed this summer.