A large cloud of smoke could be seen near Riyadh’s airport on Saturday after loud explosions were heard. Saudi Arabia sent warnings during the night about dangers around the capital. This is happening as attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels are getting worse.
This is the first time since the civil war in Yemen started again that the Saudi capital has been threatened. It is making a troubled global economy even more unstable. The war between the United States and Iran has been going on for seven months.
Reuters showed videos and pictures of a black cloud of smoke rising up. The airport highway, the main terminal building, and other areas were in the picture. At one moment in the video, flames could be seen coming from behind what looked like fuel tanks.
A website that tracks airplanes called FlightRadar24 said there were problems at the airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. The airport is called Riyadh King Khalid International Airport. There were flights that were canceled and many that were delayed.
The airport was given the possible rating for disruption, which is 5.0. This means the airport is having issues with long delays and a lot of canceled flights.
No one from the media office of the government said anything right away when Reuters asked about the smoke and the alerts that happened during the night.
The Saudi civil defense department sent warnings by phone during the night about dangers in Riyadh and in a city called Al-Kharj, which is to the east of the capital. Then they said everything was safe on Saturday morning.
The area is under an aerial threat, a message said, sent to Riyadh residents just before 3:00am telling them to stay indoors.
AFP journalists later heard two explosions. Half an hour after that, the Saudi civil defence agency lifted the alert. A Reuters journalist in Riyadh’s Olaya area also heard booms before the all-clear signal came through.
“I heard the alarm, then my windows shook ” said a 27-year-old resident in the part of Riyadh. “It was definitely scary. I was not expecting this.”
Another resident called the attack “terrifying.”
“I was extremely anxious. Especially because, unlike times when the ‘all-clear’ signal didn’t come right away,” said a person living in central Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia has not said anything about the threat mentioned in the warnings sent overnight to residents in regions. No details have been given about where the threat came from.
Although some alerts had been issued in Riyadh this year since the start of the US-Iran conflict, these were the first since the situation escalated in July with the Houthis.
The incident happened days after Riyadh accused the Houthis of targeting Makkah on Wednesday, calling it a “cowardly terrorist attack”, on the holy city. Makkah welcomes millions of pilgrims every year.
The Houthis strongly denied the accusation, calling it a “worn-out lie.”
Houthi attacks
The Houthis, who control the populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks towards Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.
The attacks have created threats to global oil supplies, putting at risk trade via Bab al-Mandab. The main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports. While traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded.
The Houthis insist there is no threat to shipping in the sea lane. Except for ships from the world’s leading crude exporter.
On Friday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had foiled criminal attempts in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, blaming Saudi Arabia and vowing a response.
The group, which seized Yemen’s Red Sea coast in a lightning advance this month, says the Saudi Air Force has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against it in recent days.
The UN Security Council (UNSC), in a statement on Friday, “condemned the continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children”.
In the statement, the UNSC also condemned “Houthi escalation in Yemen”.
The US, according to Axios week refused to strike the Houthis at Saudi Arabia’s request.
On Thursday, Washington approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to the kingdom to help Riyadh “deter future threats,” the US State Department said.
The attack targeting Riyadh comes as the Houthis improve their defences in conquered territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, with members of the group telling AFP they have been installing radar and digging tunnels.
The United Nations said on Friday that the renewed fighting had displaced more than 112,000 people while nearly 3,000 others had fled across the sea to Djibouti.
The war in Yemen broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa and other regions, triggering an intervention led by Saudi Arabia in March 2015.
The fragile truce reached in 2022 between the warring parties collapsed in July, when the Houthis defied Riyadh’s control of airspace by allowing an Iranian aircraft to land in Yemen.
