Saudi Arabia intercepts drones and missiles as fighting with Yemen’s Houthis continues

• Saudi Arabia said it intercepted drones and missiles over Riyadh and the south as fighting with Yemen’s Houthis continued, showing the conflict is widening and still unstable.
• The Houthis warned King Khalid International Airport remains a “military target” and said attacks will continue, despite plans to reopen terminals for flights.
• The airport attack on Oct 10 killed 13 and wounded more than 300, while Saudi Arabia has stepped up strikes in Yemen after the UN-brokered truce largely collapsed.

SANAA – Saudi Arabia intercepted drones and missiles over its capital Riyadh and southern areas on Oct 25, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said, as fighting with the Iran-aligned Houthis persisted.

The conflict has become an increasingly destabilising front in the United States-Israeli offensive against Iran, turning US ally Saudi Arabia into a pressure point in the wider war.

On Oct 25, Saudi civil defence authorities issued emergency alerts for Riyadh, Abha and Khamis Mushait, before announcing minutes later that the danger had passed.

The coalition said two drones and a ballistic missile were launched towards Riyadh, and a cruise missile towards the southern city of Khamis Mushait.

It later said it had intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired towards southern Saudi Arabia.

The Houthis had earlier on Oct 25 renewed their warning against using Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport, hours after the facility announced it would designate two terminals for flights following a suspension earlier in October.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the airport remained a “military target” and that operations targeting the airport will continue, warning all airlines, airport staff and travellers against using it.

Late on Oct 24, King Khalid Airport said Terminal 1 would be designated for domestic flights and Terminal 2 for international flights operated by national carriers starting on Oct 25.

Airport operations were halted on Oct 10 following an attack on the airport, claimed by the Houthis, that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300 others, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade. The suspension of operations was extended two days later.

The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi airports, ports and oil installations.

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

The renewed fighting in Yemen has shattered a UN-brokered truce that had largely held since 2022.

Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 at the head of a coalition supporting the internationally recognised government after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa a year earlier. REUTERS