Huthis attack Riyadh airport and alert refinery workers

Os rebels Huthis threatened today to attack Saudi Arabian oil facilities and urged all workers to abandon them, claiming a second attack on Riyadh airport.

“ Our armed forces attacked King Khalid airport in Riyadh at noon with a ballistic missile that hit the target,” said rebel spokesman Yahya Saree, adding that the attack caused “damages and disturbances in air traffic.”.

By the end of this morning, Riyadh had already been hit by rebel bombings.

The International Airport of Riyadh asked travellers to check with their airlines that their flight had been cancelled before travelling to the site.

“ Please contact your airline and confirm the status of your flight before going to the airport”, reads in a press release published on social network X.

In a second communiqué, the Huthis issued a warning to the workers operating Saudi refineries.

“The Yemeni Armed Forces [Huhtis] alert all employees, including experts, engineers and workers in all Saudi oil facilities, so that they are not in places that target our forces, so as not to put their lives at risk, whether they are previously targeted or others,” the rebels announced on a note released on social networks.

The rebels have targeted refineries and other Saudi facilities near the Yemeni border since the escalation of the conflict in the country and claim to have targeted oil facilities in the coastal city of Abqaiq today, near Bahrain.

The Huthis also reiterated the warnings to “air companies in zones and airports”, as well as to “travellers and workers present in them”.

The Saudi Arabian-led military coalition announced moments after intercepting two rebel missiles toward the capital.

“ We intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the terrorist militia against Riyadh,” the coalition spokesperson Turki al-Maliki said on social network X.

The conflict between the Huthis and the internationally recognized military forces of Yemen and supported by Saudi Arabia escalated in July.

The rebels, who for over a decade have controlled the Yemeni capital, Sana, and vast areas of the country, launched last month a lightning offensive that also allowed them to take control of the entire Yemeni coast facing the Red Sea and strengthen dominance over the narrow strategic Bab el-Mandeb, which links Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.

In September, a Huthis lightning offensive allowed them to take control of the entire Yemeni coast facing the Red Sea and strengthen dominance over the narrow strategic Bab el-Mandeb, which links Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.

Government forces, supported by Saudi fighter planes, launched a counter-offensive last weekend, claiming “victory on several fronts”.

However, the Huthis dispute these advances, and military sources on both sides heard by the France-Presse news agency did not report significant changes on the ground.

Since the escalation of the conflict in recent months, some 201,217 people have been forced “to leave their homes,” according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which warns of the lack of financial resources needed to address this new humanitarian crisis in the poorest country of the Arabian Peninsula.