(Cairo = Yonhap News) Correspondent Kim Sang-hoon = Saudi Arabia is struggling due to the all-out military offensive of Yemen's pro-Iranian rebels, the Houthis.
Foreign media such as Bloomberg News reported on the 11th (local time) that as the country's core infrastructure has been hit one after another and the limitations of its air defense network have been exposed, difficulties are expected in attracting global capital to achieve the 'Vision 2030' of powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
According to the Saudi-led Arab Alliance, four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, 12 civilians from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, and other countries were killed and more than 300 injured in a missile attack targeting King Khalid International Airport in the capital Riyadh the day before.
Following an attack that caused the largest casualty in more than 10 years, many global companies in Riyadh's financial district have switched to working from home and schools at all levels have started remote classes for a week, paralyzing some of the capital's major functions, leaving it helplessly shaken by the Houthis' offensive.
Above all, Saudi Arabia's major international events, which were trying to raise its international status by inviting global financial and energy industry giants, are being hit hard and are being disrupted.
The organizers of the 25th World Petroleum Conference (WPC), which opened on this day, announced that the event would proceed as normal, but key personnel are continuing to leave.
Meg O'Neill, CEO of BP, announced that she would not be attending due to flight disruption, and Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell, also announced that she would not be able to attend.
Italy's Energy Minister switched to video attendance, and major global consulting firms also canceled business trips or reduced the size of their dispatches.
Concerns are growing that the 10th Future Investment Initiative (FII), Riyadh's representative investor gathering, scheduled to be held later this month, will also fail.
With a large number of Wall Street giants such as ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, and Blackrock scheduled to attend, the organizers took action by promising to maintain strict security.
However, after the attack, operations at Riyadh Airport were virtually paralyzed, and as of the 11th, approximately 85% of flights were canceled due to a logistics crisis, making it unclear whether normal face-to-face events could be held.
Experts point out that this incident has fully exposed the structural vulnerabilities of the Saudi economy.
Saudi Arabia's national transformation project, 'Vision 2030', has as its core driving force the attraction of foreign direct investment (FDI) worth 100 billion dollars (approximately 135 trillion won) annually.
However, as geopolitical instability intensifies due to the Houthi rebels' onslaught, investment risk is rapidly rising, including the rise in the credit default swap (CDS) premium for Saudi government bonds.
Middle East economic analysts warned, "For global investors, the 85% flight cancellation rate and the shutdown of key commercial facilities are fatal red flags," and added, "If Saudi Arabia cannot fully guarantee the safety of its own airspace, it will be difficult to attract large-scale long-term capital no matter how groundbreaking economic opening measures it proposes."
In fact, the Saudi government is suffering from a double whammy as its budget deficit forecasts are expanding due to the recent surge in defense and infrastructure spending.
Houthi rebels' attacks targeting key infrastructure across Saudi Arabia and the resulting economic damage are growing like a snowball.
The Houthi rebels did not claim responsibility for the airport attack, but officially warned that the entire Saudi airspace was the target.
Following a projectile landing near Dhahran Airport in the east, where Saudi Aramco's headquarters is located the night before, there was a series of incidents of drone detection targeting the eastern region and ballistic missile interception over Al Kharj, south of Riyadh.
Houthi attacks have been strangling Saudi Arabia's energy infrastructure and logistics, which are its economic lifeline, in recent months.
Last month, a projectile from Iraq halted the operation of the Saudi East-West oil pipeline, a key bypass route in the Strait of Hormuz, and in July, a complete blockade of Saudi ships passing through the Red Sea was declared.
The Houthis are also putting pressure on Saudi Arabia by strengthening their control over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a major bottleneck in global maritime logistics.
The embattled Saudi government is risking its life and death to secure support from the international community amid successive security crises.
On the 10th, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he would review the possibility of joining Saudi Arabia's airstrikes against the Houthis.
Currently, the United States is providing intelligence support to Saudi Arabia, France has sent defensive military equipment to Yanbu Port, and the United Kingdom has dispatched aerial refueling tankers.
Turkmenistan and Pakistan, which recently signed a defense treaty with Saudi Arabia, also expressed their intention to provide troops and weapons for defense purposes, but it is unclear whether they will be able to turn the worsening war situation around.
