Saudi Authorities Say Houthi Strikes on Riyadh Airport Killed Three, Including a Saudia Pilot

Saudi authorities said on Friday that attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Thursday killed three people, as Yemen’s Houthi group stepped up missile strikes on the kingdom in an escalating war linked to the wider U.S.-Iran conflict, according to Reuters.

The strikes wounded several other people, damaged a Saudia Airlines plane on the ground and prompted many airlines to cancel flights to the Saudi capital, Reuters reported. Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said the dead were Saudi citizens, and Saudia said one of those killed was an employee of the airline. A separate report carried by Capital, citing Sky News coverage, identified one of the dead as a Saudia captain and said the damaged plane had no passengers on board.

Flights disrupted before oil meeting

The disruption came days before Riyadh is due to host a major meeting of global oil chiefs. The civil aviation authority said injuries among citizens and people of other nationalities ranged from minor to serious, according to the Capital report, and by Friday afternoon at least 124 flights to and from Riyadh had been cancelled, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware figures cited in that report.

Carriers responded in stages. Air India suspended operations through Saturday and Lufthansa Group airlines suspended flights to Riyadh through the following Friday, according to the same report, while Pakistan International Airlines also suspended flights to the city. The Saudi civil aviation authority said air traffic at the airport had returned to normal, and Reuters reported a gradual resumption of flights, including from some Middle Eastern airlines, citing flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

Saudi officials did not name who was responsible for the airport attacks, while the Houthis have claimed they targeted the airport with a ballistic missile, according to the Capital report.

Retaliation and a widening front

Saudi airstrikes hit Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, overnight, according to Houthi officials and affiliated media cited by Reuters. A Saudi-led coalition backing government forces in Yemen said it had destroyed three missile launch platforms used by the Houthis and warned it would respond firmly to attacks on civilians, Reuters reported.

Reuters reported that the Houthis had already killed three people in strikes on airports in the kingdom earlier in the week, and that the group has encircled Yemeni government forces in Taiz, Yemen’s third-largest city, while defending positions on the Red Sea coast against a Saudi-backed offensive. The fighting around the Red Sea and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has added to pressure on global energy and shipping routes, according to Reuters.

Reporting based on coverage by Reuters and Sky News via Capital.