Flames, smoke seen near Riyadh airport; Houthis claim attacks on Saudi capital

Riyadh: Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital Riyadh with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of smoke were seen near the city’s main airport.

Saudi Arabia had sent alerts overnight warning of potential danger around Riyadh, amid an escalation in attacks by the Houthis in the kingdom.

Video and photographs showed a huge pillar of black smoke rising in the area, with the airport highway, main terminal building and other facilities in the foreground. At one point in the video, flames were visible rising from behind what appeared to be fuel tanks.

The Houthis did not specify what they had targeted in Riyadh, but said they had also attacked an Aramco facility in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, a key Saudi oil export hub.

The Houthis said the operation came as a response to an attack in the Yemeni capital Sanaa.

The Saudi-led military coalition fighting the Houthis said its air defences had destroyed a missile fired by the Yemeni group toward Riyadh early on Saturday (Riyadh time).

In a statement, the coalition also said it had foiled attacks targeting civilians in the Saudi cities of Bish and Farasan in the southwest and Taif in the west, as well as Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. It did not say whether there was any damage.

Saudi civil defence sent the alerts by phone overnight for potential danger of aerial attacks in Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj east of the capital, before issuing an all-clear on Saturday morning. A Reuters journalist in Riyadh’s Olaya area heard booms before the all-clear was sent.

Although some alerts had been issued in Riyadh this year after the start of the US-Iran war, these were the first since the escalation with the Houthis began in July.

The Houthis, who ⁠control ​the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, ​have been launching attacks against Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red ​Sea.

The attacks have targeted Saudi cities, energy infrastructure and shipping, creating new threats to global oil supplies and putting at risk the main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saudi Arabia might have military needs due to the ongoing Houthi attacks and Turkey was ready to help under a trilateral defence pact that also includes Pakistan.

It was unclear what kind of support Turkey might provide but Fidan, in an interview with broadcaster NTV, said Saudi needs could include “some technical issues”.

The trilateral agreement signed last month stipulates that an armed attack on any of the three countries would be regarded as an attack on all of them.