Saudi coalition says struck Houthi missile facilities after Riyadh airport attack
The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemen's Houthis struck several of its missile launchers and storage facilities, a spokesman said on Monday, while the Iran-backed group claimed a new attack on Riyadh's international airport.
The coalition's operation came a day after explosions rattled Saudi Arabia's capital and authorities sent text messages to residents warning them of a "hostile aerial threat" to the city, which has been heavily targeted by the Houthis in recent weeks.
The Saudi-led military coalition's spokesman Turki al-Maliki posted on X on Monday that the operation had destroyed four ballistic missile launchers, as well as a missile depot and tunnels used by the Houthis, who control a large part of Yemen.
The operation "focused on cutting off Houthi militia supply lines between areas under their control," he added.
The group have carried out waves of strikes on the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, including an attack this month that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.
"Air defences intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched by the terrorist Houthi militia toward Riyadh," al-Maliki also said on Monday.
The airport re-opened and fights resumed on Sunday with the Houthis warning travellers to avoid the facility, calling it a "military target."
On Monday, the Houthis said once again they had attacked the airport "with a ballistic missile, striking the target with precision", according to a post by Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree on social media.
He said the Houthis had also struck oil pumping stations with drones.
On Sunday, the Houthis had said they launched an attack on the airport in Riyadh, after the kingdom announced flights were resuming.
The airport closure had been a major blow for Saudi Arabia, forcing the postponement of the kingdom's flagship investment conference until 2027 and disrupting travel plans for thousands of passengers.
The Dakar Rally also joined a growing list of events that were cancelled, postponed or relocated in the fallout from the war.
Saree had warned that Riyadh airport was still "unsafe" and a "military target".
"The Saudi regime shall bear the consequences of any operations at the airport," the spokesman said.
Saudi Arabia and the government it backs in Yemen have come under sustained attack in recent weeks from the Houthis as a years-long truce broke down in the summer, shifting the focus of the wider US-Iran war that erupted in February.
- 'Everything is shaking' -
As operations resumed at Riyadh airport, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met Saudi de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and discussed a key air defence system.
Mitsotakis "responded favourably to the kingdom's request to keep the Patriot system in Saudi Arabia, given the current challenging circumstances", his office said.
Greece has deployed a battery to operate the US-made Patriot air defence system in Yanbu, a major oil export hub on the Red Sea coast.
On Sunday, the Saudi-led military coalition said air defences intercepted at least 10 ballistic missiles.
"The bombardment has been very heavy since this morning -- may God keep us safe. Everything is shaking because of the explosions," one resident in Saudi Arabia's Khamis Mushait told AFP on Sunday on condition of anonymity.
The kingdom's civil defence agency later said two people were injured in the south by falling debris, also reporting damage to several buildings and vehicles.
Images released by the kingdom's official press agency showed a building with part of its upper facade destroyed, exposing metal rods. Another image captured large windows shattered, with shards of glass strewn across the pavement and part of the road.
F.De Luca--GdR
