Saudi Arabia has said three people, including a pilot, were killed in Thursday’s Houthi attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport. In a statement on social media on Friday, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said the attacks on the airport killed an airline pilot and two other Saudi nationals, while several people “of different nationalities were injured.” the flag carrier said in a statement, citing an “incident” at Riyadh airport. Dozens of people injured in the missile attacks suffered minor to serious injuries. The attacks also caused property damage, including a plane operated by national airline Saudia, GACA said. Airport operations have now resumed and air traffic has returned to normal, according to Saudi media reports. Saudi Arabia has seen several attacks by the Houthis in recent days, with airports appearing to be the main target. GACA said on Wednesday that attacks earlier in the week had killed three civilians and wounded 36 at Abha and King Khalid airports. At least three people were also wounded in other attacks on the airports in Jazan and Najran, near the border with Yemen. A Houthi military spokesman said on Thursday that the armed group had launched a ballistic missile towards King Khalid Airport, stating that the missile had successfully hit its intended target, causing damage and disrupting air traffic. The Houthi military campaign appears to be a revival of a tactic seen last month. On September 18, Saudi-led coalition forces said they intercepted and destroyed a suspected Houthi ballistic missile fired toward King Khalid Airport. A day later, at least one explosion was heard near Riyadh airport and a large plume of black smoke was seen rising from a fuel storage area. The Iranian-backed Houthis, an armed group also known as Ansar Allah (Arabic for supporters of God), have warned aviation companies to avoid using Saudi airspace, saying that any aircraft operating there, except over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, is a target. Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from Sanaa in Yemen, said The Houthis want to impose a blockade on all Saudi airports. “This is part of the blockade-by-blockade equation, the airport-by-airport equation. Because Sanaa is still under siege by Saudi Arabia, the Ansar Allah Houthis want to impose a blockade on all Saudi airports,” Mawry said. The Houthis say the attacks are in retaliation for Saudi attacks on Yemen’s Sana’a international airport and Hodeidah airport, he said. in YemenThe resumption of attacks on Saudi Arabian airports comes as Yemeni forces continue a counteroffensive against the Houthis. Late on Friday, airstrikes were reported in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, which remains under the control of the Houthi movement, which seized the city in 2014. Heavy explosions were also reported in the southern port city of Aden, where the internationally recognized Yemeni government is based. The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s government also said Friday that it had destroyed three rocket launch pads that were used by the Houthis “to threaten regional security.” Coalition spokesman Col. Turki al-Maliki stated that all Houthi attacks on civilians and civilian facilities “will be responded to resolutely” by the Saudi-led coalition. Gulf of Aden, in a sudden impulse. Yemeni government forces this week claimed key gains around the Bab al-Mandeb coast, but intense fighting continues. The conflict, which was frozen for years but reignited after the United States and Israel’s war on Iran, has stoked further unrest in a region already destabilized by Israel’s wars in Gaza and Lebanon. It now threatens to draw other states into the conflict, as Pakistan and Turkiye have agreed to deploy troops under a mutual agreement. defense pact signed with Saudi Arabia earlier this year. Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan said Friday that the country now has a “substantial number of forces and resources… in Riyadh.” Pakistani military personnel “would not cross the borders to the other side for an attack against the Houthis, but of course [are acting] In the defense of territory,” he noted. Members of the UN Security Council condemn the Houthi attacks. Meanwhile, at the United Nations on Friday, the internationally recognized government of Yemen and Saudi Arabia called on the Security Council to take action to address the escalating situation in Yemen. Abdulaziz al-Wasil told the council. Abdullah Ali Fadhel al-Saadi, the UN representative for the internationally recognized government of Yemen, said the threat posed by the Houthis “is no longer a internal Yemeni matter that can be contained within our borders.”
