RIYADH, Oct 8 — Three people were killed in attacks on Saudi airports, the country's civil aviation authorities said yesterday, as fighting intensified in Yemen between the Iran-aligned Houthis and Saudi-backed government forces.
One person was killed and eight others wounded in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, while two people were killed and 28 wounded in an attack on facilities at Abha airport, the authorities said in a statement.
One attack occurred yesterday and the other on Tuesday, the authorities said, without specifying which took place on which day.
A Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis vowed retaliation, warning that the attacks "will not go unpunished".
In a statement issued late yesterday, the coalition said it had struck more than 80 Houthi military sites across the governorates of Saada, Hodeidah, Jawf and Marib.
The attacks on Saudi airports were among a series of strikes targeting aviation infrastructure yesterday.
The Houthis attacked Aden's international airport with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones earlier that day, Yemen's Transport Ministry said.
One missile landed near the runway minutes before a flight from Cairo was due to land, the ministry said. The airport serves as the main international gateway for parts of Yemen outside Houthi control.
Fighting in Yemen has centred in recent days on areas around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a shipping route that has become increasingly important for energy exports since the conflict between the US and Iran restricted trade through the Strait of Hormuz.
This week, Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi-led coalition air support, launched a counteroffensive to recapture strategic territory near the strait and around the town of Mocha that the Houthis seized in September. However, it remains unclear whether their advance can be sustained.
The fighting, a spillover from the wider US-Iran conflict, has reignited Yemen's complex 12-year war, which triggered one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and fragmented the Arab world's poorest country.
More than 200,000 people have been displaced since the latest round of fighting began, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Wednesday.
"People are running for their lives and finding nowhere safe to go," said IOM Director General Amy Pope, who called for increased funding to meet growing needs for food and shelter.
Both sides claim that hundreds of people have been killed in the fighting but have provided no details.
The UN said three in four families were going hungry in parts of Yemen.
The Houthis have repeatedly targeted infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, a US ally, including airports, oil refineries and pipelines.
On Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile north of Riyadh.
It said it was tracking the launch platform in Houthi-controlled Sanaa and would destroy it, but provided no details of casualties or damage.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a statement that the group had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with several drones.
Battles over the strait
Any Houthi control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could threaten shipping and global oil flows, prompting Saudi Arabia to seek international assistance to repel the group.
Turkey is providing mainly defensive and technical support, two officials said on Wednesday, after the NATO member and Pakistan pledged to implement a collective defence commitment under their newly formed alliance.
Syria is also carefully considering providing military assistance to its ally Saudi Arabia amid the escalating conflict with the Houthis, according to a US official and a Syrian military official briefed on the matter.
Options under consideration include defensive assistance to protect the kingdom from attacks or deploying forces in an offensive role to help Saudi-backed Yemeni troops fight the Houthis, the officials said.
The US official said Saudi Arabia had requested that Syria deploy forces to fight the Houthis.
Responding to a request for comment from the Syrian foreign ministry, a Syrian diplomat said Syria stood firmly with Saudi Arabia in the face of Houthi attacks.
However, the diplomat said the government's primary focus remained on domestic priorities, including recovery from the country's civil war.
Fighting on Yemen's western front remains concentrated in the Dhubab district overlooking Bab el-Mandeb, with pro-government forces attempting to advance into strategic hills east of the coastal plain, Yemeni military and government sources said.
On Monday, the Yemeni government said its forces had reached Mocha, which lies at a junction along a supply route to the critical battleground of Taiz.
However, Yemeni military officials on the ground and analysts said the claim had been premature.
The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen, seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led military coalition to intervene over concerns about rival Iran's influence in Yemen and instability along Saudi Arabia's borders.
The Saudi-led coalition accuses Iran of arming, training and funding the Houthis.
The group, which began as mountain fighters and has grown into a force of tens of thousands equipped with missiles and drones capable of threatening the region, denies being part of Iran's proxy network in West Asia and says it develops its own weapons.
Tehran also rejects the allegations.
