Saudi Arabia said Monday it was facing a new barrage of incoming Houthi missiles and drones and that King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh would remain shut, extending a shutdown that has emptied the skies over the Saudi capital.
Incoming drones and missiles were reported by the Saudi-led coalition backing government forces in Yemen, though there was no immediate word on whether they were intercepted, Reuters reported.
The extended closure follows three successive days of lethal strikes on the kingdom’s airports. A Houthi missile strike on a departure terminal at the Riyadh airport on Saturday killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300, Saudi and news reports said — the deadliest attack in the kingdom in more than a decade. Another attack on Sunday killed one person and injured 11, according to Saudi authorities.
The shutdown has become one of the most significant disruptions to Saudi aviation in years. The airport cancelled 99.7% of its scheduled flights on Sunday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, and flight trackers showed planes avoiding Riyadh on Monday. Lufthansa Group cancelled all flights to Riyadh through Oct. 16, while Air France-KLM extended its suspension of Riyadh services through the end of October. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration advised American carriers to exercise caution flying to or over Saudi Arabia, and the EU aviation safety agency widened its airspace warning.
Iran, the Houthis’ longtime backer and Riyadh’s regional rival, offered on Monday to mediate between its Houthi allies and the kingdom. “We have repeatedly expressed our readiness to help facilitate dialogue between the parties,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said.
The Houthi campaign has widened in recent days: in addition to the Riyadh airport, the group has reportedly targeted the city of Khamis Mushait and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, and has vowed to strike Saudi airports across the country. Saudi Arabia, which re-entered Yemen’s civil war to push the Houthis back from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, has intensified its airstrikes — including strikes on al-Jawf province reported Monday by Yemeni television — but the Houthi attacks on Saudi infrastructure show no sign of letting up.
This is a developing story.
Sources: Reuters, TBS News, The Brief, Associated Press.
