Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement, or Houthis, have over the past 48 hours been targeting airports along with Aramco sites within Saudi territory, and have warned further that civilian infrastructure will increasingly be fair game in retaliation for the Saudi blockade imposed on Yemen.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree also declared Tuesday that this is the result of the ongoing Saudi bombing campaign. The kingdom’s Abha International Airport in the southwest of the country has come under fresh missile attack on Tuesday.
“We reiterate our warning to all international airlines regarding the consequences of continuing to operate flights within Saudi airspace, as it has become a theatre for our military operations – with the exception of the airspace over the Holy Sites in Mecca and Medina,” the Iran-aligned rebel group said in a statement.File image, via SaudiAuto
The Saudi government didn’t immediately confirm the attack, but it follows Monday night attacks on airports in Jazan and Najran with several injuries and damage reported, according to Al Jazeera. Riyadh and its international airport were also targeted.
While King Khalid International Airport saw flight delays and gate closures, there’s been no official confirmation of damage there, other than some open source claims of possible destruction. But casualties have been reported at the other airports. The Wall Street Journal reports:
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport, a dual-use airport in the Red Sea city of Jazan, and Najran International Airport, were damaged in the strikes. Three people were wounded, the agency said.
The Houthi military spokesman has newly decalred of Abha International Airport in Asir province that ballistic missile “was precise and direct … resulting in the disruption of air traffic at the airport.”
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Saree further said in statement on X, “We reiterate our warning to all global airlines regarding the consequences of continuing to operate their flights in Saudi airspace, as it has become a theatre for our military operations.”
Hundreds of Saudi coalition aerial attacks have unfolded in Yemen this week, and the Houthis are now making clear they intend to unleash their missiles and drones directly on the kingdom in return.
Several international reports have cited Saudi coalition progress in retaking territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast.
“Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces staged a lightning advance on Monday to retake the coast around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait up to the city of Mocha, the government said, pushing the Iran-backed Houthis out of most of the areas they seized last month,” Reuters writes. Armored convoys have been spotted moving up coastal highways.
However, many of these reports rely on military officials from one side or the other, amid a fog of war situation where it’s hard to assess which claims are true or possibly exaggerated.
The Houthis taking the war directly to Saudi territory sets up the greater possibility of Pakistani or Turkish military intervention in support of Riyadh based on the Mecca Defense Pact.
Among neighboring regional countries, Jordan has been among the first to condemn the ‘war on the airports’ and against energy sites, with Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi having in a phone call to his Saudi counterpart “affirmed Jordan’s absolute solidarity with Saudi Arabia in confronting the Houthi aggressions, and its absolute support for all measures it takes to protect its security, stability, sovereignty, and the safety of its citizens.
In Europe, Ursula von der Leyen says the EU stands with Saudi Arabia in the wake of the attacks on the kingdom. “These attacks keep destabilizing the region, igniting further violence, and undermining global energy security,” she wrote on X. “We stand in solidarity with Saudi Arabia and our Gulf partners.” She laid out that as European Commission President regional security “will be at the heart” of upcoming October meetings between EU and Gulf Cooperation Council leaders.
