The tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthis in West Asia continued to escalate on Saturday, with the group claiming a fresh wave of attacks targeting Saudi oil facilities and airports.
He warned airlines, airport staff and travellers against using the facility.
Saree said the airport remained a “military target” and that operations targeting it would continue. The Houthis on Sunday renewed their warning against using King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, hours after the airport announced plans to designate two terminals for flights following a suspension earlier this month, Reuters reported.
Houthis military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group launched missiles at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh in two phases, as well as airports in Dammam in the east and Najran in the south, AFP reported. A third strike outside the city of Hodeida killed five members of the same family. Debris fell in several locations, including Jeddah, Taif and Rabigh, Some shrapnel also landed in Wadi Mughamas, outside Mecca.
The Houthis said they targeted a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh oil refinery and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. Meanwhile, Yemen’s Saudi-backed government said the group fired three ballistic missiles at coast guard sites in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden. A strike on a house in Sanaa killed at least four people, while another attack on a residential building for cement factory workers killed eight, according to the Houthi broadcaster cited by AFP. Earlier reporting noted: “Civil defence in the Mecca and Medina regions began to respond to the falling debris from the interception of two ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist Houthi militia,” it said in a post on X.
Earlier reporting noted: Missile debris falls in Mecca, Medina after Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi strikes Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence said on Saturday it intercepted two ballistic missiles launched by Yemen’s Houthis toward the Mecca and Medina regions. Earlier reporting noted: Yemen’s Houthi group said it launched attacks on Saudi oil facilities and airports on Saturday, including a Saudi Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh oil refinery and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.
“Civil defence in the Mecca and Medina regions began to respond to the falling debris from the interception of two ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist Houthi militia,” the agency said in a post on X. “What the Saudi enemy is promoting about our forces targeting towards the holy areas of Mecca and Medina is a great and huge lie,” Saree said. Saudi Arabia’s civil defence agency said on Saturday that it had responded to falling shrapnel following the interception of Houthi missiles in the Mecca and Medina regions, the two holiest cities in Islam, AFP reported.
