On Tuesday, the Saudi-led coalition issued a warning to civilians to evacuate an oil facility in Sanaa before carrying out an operation in the Yemeni capital, while the Ansar Allah group vowed a “harsh and painful” response in Riyadh if Sanaa was targeted.
The coalition spokesman, Major General Turki Al-Maliki, said in a post on the The post was accompanied by a map of the site located on the outskirts of the city, which is under the group’s control.
On the other hand, the military spokesman for the Ansar Allah group, Yahya Saree, said on the X platform: “We warn the Saudi enemy that any targeting of the capital, Sana’a, will be met with a harsh and painful response in the enemy’s capital, Riyadh.”
Sarie also called on employees and citizens near Aramco facilities to evacuate.
The exchange of warnings comes as King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh continues to be closed until at least Saturday, October 17, and airlines suspend their flights to a number of cities in the Kingdom, following a series of attacks carried out by the Iranian-backed group.
On Monday evening, the Ansar Allah group announced that it had targeted the airport with a ballistic missile, while the coalition announced the interception and destruction of a missile launched towards Riyadh, in addition to two missiles launched towards Khamis Mushait.
Attacks targeting Riyadh Airport last week killed at least 18 people and injured more than 300, according to Reuters. Among these attacks was a strike that occurred on Saturday, leaving 13 dead, which Agence France-Presse described as the bloodiest on Saudi soil in more than a decade.
In a related development, the Associated Press quoted regional officials as saying that Saudi Arabia had opened an investigation to find out the reasons for the failure of its air defenses to intercept missiles and drones launched by the Ansar Allah group from Yemen, which resulted in three bloody attacks on Riyadh Airport.
According to officials, a preliminary examination showed that the group first launched a number of drones, allowing cruise missiles and ballistic missiles to evade interception and hit the airport.
One of the officials said that the investigation also aims to determine the reasons why air defense systems did not provide early warning of attacks.
The Emirati airline Etihad Airways announced the cancellation of all its flights between Abu Dhabi and Riyadh until October 19, in addition to canceling flights between Abu Dhabi and both Jeddah and Dammam, due to what it described as “regional unrest.”
Qatar Airways also announced the temporary suspension of its flights to and from Riyadh and Dammam due to the “current situation.”
Bahrain's Gulf Air said it had canceled its flights to Riyadh until Saturday, while the American company Delta announced the postponement of the launch of a direct line between Atlanta and the Saudi capital, which was scheduled for October 23.
The US Embassy asked US government employees to obtain its approval before using any airport in Saudi Arabia, and urged US citizens to be “extremely cautious” if they decide to travel through the Kingdom’s airports.
The attacks also included Dammam Airport and two Aramco energy facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia, according to Agence France-Presse, while disruptions in air traffic in the Kingdom continue.
The Saudi authorities published surveillance camera footage of Saturday’s attack on Riyadh Airport, which showed passengers, including people wearing Ihram clothes, before an explosion occurred and burning debris fell inside the building.
In light of the economic repercussions of the war, the International Monetary Fund expected, on Tuesday, that the Saudi economy would contract by 3.3 percent this year, according to its latest report on global economic prospects.
The report was prepared before Saturday's attack on Riyadh Airport, which killed 13 people, at a time when the Kingdom was already facing pressure due to Iranian restrictions on navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, a major corridor for oil and gas exports.
The Fund lowered its expectations for the region's economy, expecting it to contract by 0.3 percent this year, after it expected growth of 1.9 percent six months ago, attributing this to the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz for a longer period than the April report assumed.
However, the Fund considered Saudi Arabia among the least affected exporting countries in the region, thanks to the diversity of its export paths. The Kingdom uses the East-West Pipeline to transport oil to the Red Sea coast, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz.
But this path also faces risks; The Ansar Allah group targeted oil tankers in the Red Sea, while the pipeline was temporarily stopped in September after strikes attributed to Iraqi groups supported by Iran, according to Agence France-Presse.
A member of the Ansar Allah group's political bureau, Muhammad Al-Bukhaiti, said in an interview with Agence France-Presse that any American intervention in the war will be met with a response targeting the United States and its interests in the region.
He added: "If the United States engages in the aggression against Yemen, we will not hesitate to take the decision to respond. Rather, there will be a quick and painful response targeting the United States and all its interests in the region."
He warned workers in Saudi oil facilities and airports against approaching them, saying that they had become “legitimate targets,” as he described them.
For his part, Abdulaziz bin Habtour, a member of the Supreme Political Council of the Ansar Allah group, said in statements reported by Al-Mayadeen TV, that “Saudi Arabia’s security is inseparable from the security of Yemen,” holding Riyadh the main responsibility for the continuing causes of the confrontation.
He added, "It is not right to demand the protection of Saudi airports while ignoring the right of Yemenis to operate their airports and ports and freedom of movement."
The group says that its attacks come in response to Saudi military operations in support of Yemeni government forces.
US President Donald Trump described Saturday's attack as "unacceptable" and said that he would study the possibility of participating in Saudi strikes against the group, and that he would speak to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump added Monday that the group is "behaving very badly."
In Riyadh, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, during an energy conference, that recent developments tested the Kingdom’s infrastructure, institutions, and ability to withstand.
He added: "The events of recent weeks are serious, and our response must be equally serious."
In a related context, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported, in a report carried by the BBC’s media monitoring service, that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking, through American mediation, to persuade Saudi Arabia to allow Israel to intervene in the fight against the Ansar Allah group.
The newspaper quoted unnamed sources that Israel hopes that military cooperation will allow the development of relations with Saudi Arabia, leading to an agreement to normalize relations.
But a diplomatic source told Haaretz that Saudi Arabia is not interested in Israeli participation, because it believes that this will not be accepted by public opinion. The newspaper added that the Israeli army warned against launching an attack on the group.
On Monday evening, residents of Riyadh received a government alert via mobile phones warning of an air threat and calling on them to take shelter in a safe place, coinciding with the sound of explosions being heard in the capital.
The alert delayed the start of a match between the Saudi club Al-Nassr and Uzbek club Neftchi Fergana by an hour, according to Agence France-Presse.
With the 2027 Asian Cup approaching, the Australian Football Association said on Tuesday that it was “closely monitoring” the situation in Saudi Arabia, which is hosting the tournament during January and February.
A spokesman for the federation explained to Agence France-Presse that the safety of players, crews and fans remains a top priority, and that its security team is following developments and providing regular updates, while risk assessment will be a key focus in preparations for the tournament.
He added that the federation is communicating with the Asian Football Confederation regarding its plans for the tournament, which is scheduled to start on January 7 with the participation of 24 teams, in Riyadh, Jeddah and Al-Khobar. Agence France-Presse said it had requested a comment from the AFC.
Reuters said that the Saudi Civil Defense issued its first alerts on Monday regarding military threats since September 29, after four attacks occurred on Riyadh during the past week without prior warnings to the public.
The Saudi government did not explain the reason for the absence of alerts. The agency did not receive a response from the Civil Defense and the government media office to its request for comment.
Reuters quoted informed Western officials as saying that Saudi authorities informed officials from a Western allied country, before the airport attacks, that the alerts were causing inconvenience and that citizens complained of being woken up at night. The Saudi authorities did not respond to requests for comment on this story.
The agency was unable to verify whether the re-issuance of alerts was related to the airport attacks.
In Yemen, raids and battles continued between government forces supported by the Saudi-led coalition and the Ansar Allah group, amid reports of civilian casualties.
According to what the BBC's media monitoring service reported on Al Arabiya channel, the Yemeni army targeted the group's positions in the Ma'rib and Al-Jawf governorates on Monday, while the Giants' brigades made progress in Lahj governorate after clashes with the group's fighters.
As the repercussions of the fighting expanded, the International Committee of the Red Cross called on Tuesday for an urgent de-escalation, warning that an intensification of hostilities would be “disastrous for tens of millions of people.”
The head of the committee, Mirjana Spolijaric, said that civilians are paying an “unacceptable price” as a result of military operations, and that the deaths, injuries and destruction in Saudi Arabia in recent days provide another example of the devastating effects of fighting on civilians.
She added that the numbers of dead and displaced people and the extent of damage to civilian infrastructure in Yemen, including Aden and Sanaa, are increasing at an alarming rate.
She stressed the need to spare civilians and civilian objects from attacks, and to distinguish between them and military targets at all times, warning of the repercussions of striking ports, airports, and basic facilities on the communities that depend on them.
In a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that his country will continue to stand by Saudi Arabia in the face of attacks by the Ansar Allah group, according to a statement by the Turkish presidency.
