Houthi strikes rattle Riyadh, disrupt flights as Saudi Arabia rallies allies

• Houthi missile strikes hit Riyadh airport, causing flight delays, work-from-home orders, and warnings for diplomats and schools.
• Saudi Arabia asked allies for support as the Yemen war spreads, with fighting near the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb Strait raising regional risks.
• Turkey and Pakistan offered mainly defensive help, while Syria considered support but said its main focus was domestic recovery.

RIYADH – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up their deadly campaign of strikes on Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, where booms were heard on Oct 8, flights disrupted, and some office staff told to work from home.

The Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh airport and repeated a threat to force Saudi airspace to close after Saudi Arabia gave support to the forces of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in a reignited civil war.

The conflict, now an overspill of the US-Iran war, has added new chaos to a region already aflame, and threatens to draw other states into gruelling mountain fighting, with Syria now considering deploying troops to assist Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has pushed for support from allied nations, including Turkey and Pakistan, even if only in a logistical or defensive capacity, as it tries to reverse Houthi gains in south-west Yemen, by the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

Those requests have taken on more urgency since the Saudi authorities said on Oct 7 that three people were killed this week in strikes on airports in Riyadh and Abha in the south-west.

The flight tracker FlightRadar24 indicated numerous delayed arrivals and departures at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Oct 8.

Several multinational firms based in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) told staff to work from home, five people familiar with the matter said, including some affected staff.

Some diplomats said they received warnings, and some schools in Riyadh told parents there were orders to shelter in place, though the authorities did not issue a public alert.

Yemen’s long-running civil war, which paused with a ceasefire in 2022, has erupted again in recent weeks with the Houthis seizing stretches of the Red Sea coast in September, including along the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Houthis, who control many of Yemen’s most populous areas, including the capital Sanaa, have said they are responding to attacks from the Saudi-backed government, which the government denies.

Their threats to shipping along a waterway that has become ever more critical for Gulf oil exports since Iran’s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, and their attacks on Saudi cities and infrastructure, have drawn Saudi Arabia back in.

This week, Saudi-backed forces launched a counter-attack, taking back areas around the strait.

However, in a war with several frontlines, the Houthis have made gains of their own, surrounding Yemen’s third-largest city, Taiz, by taking territory along its main mountain road to Aden.

The fighting, which pits the Houthis against a coalition of Saudi-backed forces under the internationally recognised government, has led to a humanitarian crisis in the poorest Arab state, displacing 200,000 people since the conflict resumed.

Syria aid purely defensive

One US and one Syrian defence official said Syria was carefully considering options for military support, including defensive aid to protect Saudi Arabia from attacks, or an offensive deployment to help take the fight to the Houthis.

In response to a request for comment to the Syrian foreign ministry, a diplomat said Syria stood firmly with Saudi Arabia but that its focus was on domestic priorities such as recovery from its own civil war.

Saudi Arabia this summer agreed to the “Mecca Pact” with Turkey and Pakistan, committing all three to come to each other’s defence, though Ankara has yet to ratify the treaty.

NATO-member Turkey said on Oct 7 it was sending mainly defensive and technical support to Saudi Arabia to help in the fight against the Houthis. A Turkish official said this was expected to take the form of military equipment, intelligence sharing and weapons systems.

Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s government and a supporter of its forces while they were still rebels fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad, previously brought some Syrians to fight in Libya’s civil war in 2020.

Pakistan has flown military equipment to Aden in southern Yemen to help in the battle against the Houthis, sources in Pakistan have said, and has deployed troops within Saudi Arabia to help defend its borders. REUTERS