BBC - Saudi Arabia's Riyadh airport hit by second Houthi strike in two days
An international airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh has been hit by a second strike in as many days, officials have said.
A Saudi military spokesman said a projectile had hit King Khalid International Airport on Sunday, causing a fire in one of its passenger halls. Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said there had been injuries.
It comes a day after a strike on the same airport killed 13 people and injured 308 others, following similar strikes earlier this week.
The Houthis in Yemen said they were behind the attacks and warned airlines and passengers against using Saudi Arabian airports and airspace.
The group said they had targeted the airport with a mix of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones in the past 24 hours.
They also attacked oil facilities and Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia, their military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree said.
He vowed to continue the "escalating operations deep inside Saudi Arabia", warning that all Saudi airports were potential targets apart from those in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The Houthis have said they are targeting Saudi Arabia over its support for government forces in Yemen's civil war, as well as an air strike on the airport in Sanaa.
On Sunday Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, said air defences had intercepted a missile near the airport in Riyadh, while authorities were dealing with the fire caused by an "unknown projectile" that hit Passenger Hall No 4.
US President Donald Trump has said the US would "make a decision" and "move very quickly" on whether to strike the Houthis, while UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting suggested the UK could "potentially" provide more support for Saudi Arabia.
Saturday's strike was the deadliest single attack on a Gulf Arab country since the war between Israel, the US and Iran began in February. The Saudi-led coalition vowed to respond, calling it a "war crime".
Four Saudi nationals, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt were among the dead, the Saudi civil aviation authority said.
The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that an Indian man had succumbed to the injuries he sustained in the attack.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attacks and confirmed that a US citizen was killed in the strikes. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he was "appalled".
The UK Foreign Office is advising against all travel to parts of Saudi Arabia, including areas within 10km (6.2 miles) of the border with Yemen, while other western embassies have warned their nationals about travel in the region.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said "the Saudi enemy" had launched an air strike on Sanaa International Airport in Yemen's capital. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed the attack and the BBC has been unable to verify this claim.
Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir, vice-president of Yemen's internationally recognised government, called for "decisive actions" from regional and international partners.
Riyadh's airport was struck on Thursday, an attack that killed three Saudi nationals. The Houthis claimed responsibility and said they had used cruise missiles to target the airport.
There were two other deadly attacks on Saudi airports in Abha and Riyadh in the two days prior to that.
ReutersThe latest uptick in violence comes after a temporary ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces, brokered in 2022, collapsed in July.
The conflict worsened after the Houthis seized strategically important stretches of the Red Sea coast in a rapid offensive, prompting Saudi strikes. Yemeni pro-government forces later said they had secured the regions.
The Houthis currently control around a quarter of Yemeni territory and as much as 80% of the country's population. The Iran-backed armed group hopes to eventually seize complete control.
Saudi Arabia fears this would lead to the establishment of an Iranian satellite state on its southern border.
No comments:
Post a Comment