Houthis claim new strike on Riyadh airport during partial reopening

Yemen’s Houthis claimed on Sunday, 25 October, to have struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh as it resumed limited operations after earlier deadly attacks. AFP reported that Saudi authorities had not commented on the new airport claim.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group had carried out three operations using dozens of ballistic missiles in total. He named the airport as the first target and claimed that operation had succeeded. The other targets he named were an airbase in Khamis Mushait and a naval base in Jazan. He gave no separate missile count or damage details for the airport.

The airport had announced on Saturday that domestic flights would resume through Terminal 1 on Sunday, with international flights operated by national carriers using Terminal 2. The reopening was partial. AFP said flight-tracking data showed some departures on Sunday but that most flights were cancelled; Reuters also reported little traffic. Those figures do not show whether the newly claimed attack caused any cancellations.

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile heading towards Riyadh on Sunday, according to Qatar News Agency. AFP journalists heard three explosions in the city early that day. Neither account establishes a hit at the airport or whether the reported missile was connected to Saree’s claim. On Monday, the coalition said it had destroyed two missile launchers in Sanaa, one of which it said had been used to fire at Riyadh. It did not report a new airport impact.