Yemen’s Houthis renew warning over Saudi airports after latest deadly Riyadh attack

• Houthis warned airlines, travellers and airport workers to avoid Saudi airports and airspace after a deadly attack on Riyadh airport killed 12 and wounded more than 300.
• The attack was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia in over a decade and comes as fighting grows between Iran-backed Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces, with Saudi strikes and US talks of support.
• Riyadh airport was temporarily closed, schools moved to remote learning, but major energy meetings still went ahead near the airport despite safety concerns.

DUBAI/RIYADH – Yemen’s Houthis warned airlines, travellers and airport workers on Oct 11 to stay away from Saudi airports, a day after an attack on Riyadh’s international airport killed 12 people and wounded more than 300 others.

It was the deadliest such attack in the kingdom in more than a decade, and came amid an escalation of fighting between the Iran-backed Houthi militants and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.

“We renew our warning to all airlines, experts, employees, workers and travellers against using Saudi airports and airspace, as they are vulnerable to attack and have become a theatre of operations for our forces, with the exception of the airports in (the holy cities of) Mecca and Medina,” the Houthis said in a post on X.

“We urge everyone to take our warnings seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for any failed interceptions.”

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its military involvement in Yemen in recent weeks, launching strikes against the Houthis and backing a Yemeni government counter-offensive after the group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast in September.

Yemen’s Houthi-run Foreign Ministry said on Oct 11 that further Saudi military action in Yemen would trigger a stronger response, adding that its actions would be guided by the principle of reciprocity.

“Unless the Saudi enemy stops its aggression and interference in Yemen, worse is yet to come, God willing,” it said in statements carried by Houthi-run outlet Al-Masirah TV.

President Donald Trump said on Oct 10 that the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis in the conflict, a spillover from the wider war on Iran that the US and Israel launched in February.

The Saudi-led coalition said the same day that a projectile had fallen near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in the kingdom’s eastern province. The coalition also reported intercepting a drone in the region on Oct 11.

International energy conference still going ahead in Riyadh

The Oct 10 attack has forced the temporary closure of King Khalid International Airport, but the Saudi Energy Ministry said that a long-planned international energy conference was still going ahead in Riyadh on Oct 11.

The five-day WPC Energy Congress is taking place at a convention centre about 10km from the Riyadh airport. State TV said more than 70 ministers, 300 company executives and representatives of over 25 international energy organisations have confirmed their attendance.

It was not immediately clear whether the participants would attend in person or virtually.

A ministerial meeting of the International Energy Forum is also set to go ahead on Oct 11, with its plenary session to be held behind closed doors, according to a media advisory. No further details were immediately available.

In the Oct 10 attack, the third on Riyadh’s airport in a week, the 12 dead consisted of four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and nationals of the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi authorities said.

Two previous attacks on Riyadh’s international airport earlier in the week had killed four people and caused heavy damage to a Saudi commercial plane parked on the tarmac.

Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said that airport operations were temporarily suspended pending damage and safety assessments, without specifying when flights would resume.

Separately, the Saudi authorities notified parents that in-person classes would be suspended and moved to remote learning from Oct 11 until Oct 15 for all students, teachers and administrative staff. REUTERS