3 killed in Saudi airport attacks as Houthis intensify cross-border strikes

Three people were killed and 36 others injured in separate attacks on two airports in Saudi Arabia, Saudi authorities said Wednesday, as Yemen's Houthi group claimed a new wave of missile and drone attacks on airports and military sites across the kingdom, reported Xinhua.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said the attacks targeted Abha International Airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia and King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Tuesday and Wednesday. All the injured were taken to hospital for treatment, and both facilities sustained property damage, it added.

The casualties were reported after Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said earlier Wednesday that several drones targeted King Khalid International Airport, while ballistic missiles and drones hit Abha International Airport and King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait in the southwestern Asir region.

Also on Wednesday, the Saudi-led coalition claimed it had intercepted two Houthi ballistic missiles, one north of Riyadh and the other heading toward the southwestern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait.

Coalition spokesperson Turki Al-Malki said that Sanaa and the provinces of Saada and Amran were sources of Houthi missile threats.

Al-Malki later said that the coalition had destroyed a ballistic missile launch platform that it said had been used in an attack on Riyadh.

Meanwhile, Yemen's transport ministry said Houthi forces launched ballistic missiles and drones at Aden International Airport before dawn, forcing an incoming passenger flight to divert.

According to the ministry, two ballistic missiles and several explosive-laden drones targeted the runway and passenger terminal, with one missile striking near the runway only minutes before Yemenia Airways flight 603 from Cairo was due to land. No casualties were immediately reported.

In a separate statement, the Houthi group said it launched ballistic missiles targeting newly arrived Saudi military supplies at Badr Camp near Aden International Airport.

The group said the strike caused casualties among Saudi officers without providing specific figures, while warning Riyadh against using the airport for military purposes.

The cross-border attacks came amid intensified fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, particularly near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Yemeni government announced Monday the launch of a new military operation aimed at retaking the capital Sanaa, as government forces mounted a counteroffensive near the strategic Bab al-Mandab Strait.

The Houthi group on Wednesday claimed to have repelled an attempt by government forces to advance toward its positions in the northern province of Al-Jawf near the Saudi border, saying it targeted government troop gatherings in the region with ballistic missiles and drones.

Meanwhile, Saudi forces have stepped up air operations, while the Houthis reported 156 air and missile strikes on Sanaa and the provinces of Taiz, Saada, Al-Jawf, Marib and Amran.

The recent clashes marked the sharpest escalation since a UN-brokered truce in 2022 largely halted major hostilities in the war-torn country.

Yemen's conflict began in late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the internationally recognized government, now based in Aden.