Saudi Arabia has launched a major military operation against Houthi targets in Yemen after attacks on two Saudi airports killed three people and injured 36 others, with the coalition warning that attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure “will not go unpunished”.
The Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen said its Joint Forces destroyed 82 Houthi military targets across the Yemeni governorates of Saada, Al-Hudaydah, Al-Jawf and Marib following the attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and Abha International Airport.
Coalition spokesman Major General Turki Al-Malki said the targets included ballistic missile sites, command and control centres, communications systems, missile and weapons storage facilities and Houthi gathering sites. The operation also destroyed 11 mountain-based ballistic missile storage facilities in Saada, he said.
Al-Malki separately said coalition forces had destroyed a ballistic missile launch platform in Sana’a that was used in the attack on Riyadh. The platform, he said, was being prepared for an imminent attack against Saudi Arabia.
The escalation followed two separate attacks on Saudi airports on October 6 and 7, according to the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).
At Abha International Airport, two female residents, one Moroccan and one Algerian, were killed and 28 people were injured, including Saudi citizens and residents from Bangladesh and the Philippines. At King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, a Sudanese resident was killed and eight people were injured, including five Saudi citizens and residents from Egypt and Pakistan.
The injured, whose conditions ranged from minor to critical, were taken to hospitals for treatment. The attacks also caused property damage at both airports.
GACA said it was working with the relevant authorities to assess the damage, verify the safety of airport facilities and take measures to protect passengers and maintain the security of civil aviation operations across the Kingdom.
The attacks mark a further escalation in the conflict as fighting has intensified around Bab el-Mandeb, the strategic waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Yemeni government forces, backed by Saudi-led coalition air support, have launched a counteroffensive in recent days to retake territory near the strait and around Mocha that the Houthis captured in September.
The battle for the area has taken on added significance for global energy and shipping markets as the conflict between the US and Iran has restricted trade through the Strait of Hormuz, increasing the strategic importance of alternative routes through the Red Sea and Bab el-Mandeb.
Any sustained Houthi control of territory around the strait could threaten commercial shipping and energy flows through one of the world's key maritime corridors, adding another layer of risk to an already disrupted global oil market.
Saudi Arabia has been seeking international support as the fighting intensifies. Turkey is providing mainly defensive and technical assistance, according to two officials, after Turkey and Pakistan pledged to implement a collective-defence commitment under their newly formed alliance, a Reuters report said.
Syria is also considering military assistance to Saudi Arabia, according to a US official and a Syrian military official briefed on the discussions.
