Houthis claim new attack on Riyadh airport

Yemen's pro-Iranian Houthis claimed responsibility for a new attack on Riyadh airport on Wednesday, hours after Saudi Arabia announced the interception of a missile fired towards the kingdom's capital. The Houthis had earlier in the day claimed responsibility for attacks targeting a site of the oil giant Aramco in Dhahran - against which the Saudi authorities confirmed a strike on Tuesday evening - and already the Riyadh airport.

The capital of Saudi Arabia, the world's leading exporter of crude oil, has been suffering unprecedented daily attacks for more than a week, marking an escalation in the war between Yemeni fighters and the military coalition led by Riyadh, which supports the Yemeni government. After a series of deadly strikes on Riyadh airport, the most serious of which left 13 dead and hundreds injured on Saturday, powerful explosions shook the kingdom's capital again on Wednesday. A resident was injured Wednesday after falling debris following the interception of a ballistic missile by the coalition, Saudi civil defense announced in a statement.

Earlier, explosions were heard in the center of Riyadh, where residents parked their cars on the side of the road and got out to observe the sky, according to an AFP journalist. “The Yemeni armed forces (...) were able to target King Khalid International Airport, in the capital of the Saudi enemy, Riyadh, with a ballistic missile, and the firing was precise,” Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said on X in the evening.

The Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed that an Aramco building in Dhahran, in the east of the kingdom, was hit by a strike on Tuesday evening which caused a limited fire. The city is home to Aramco's headquarters, a large complex made up of several buildings and housing estates. A headquarters tower was hit during the night, two employees said on condition of anonymity. “The last three floors were destroyed,” according to one of them. The AFP was not authorized to access the site to verify the extent of the damage.

In recent weeks, strikes have mainly targeted infrastructure located on the outskirts of Riyadh. But the bombings now seem to be getting closer to the city center, judging in particular by the missile trails left in the sky. October generally marks, with the end of the summer heat, the start of the peak season for pilgrimage to Mecca and other major events. Diplomatic sources indicated on Wednesday that the kingdom was trying to maintain its “Desert Davos”, scheduled for the end of the month, but by opting for a format mixing face-to-face and distance learning.

The Saudi Football League postponed three matches scheduled for this week, citing “logistical reasons,” and the third edition of the Six Kings Slam tennis exhibition tournament, initially scheduled for October 21-24, was postponed until the end of December. Fashion week scheduled for this month has been canceled, with an appointment made for 2027, according to a publication on Instagram.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expressed alarm on Wednesday that the attacks against Saudi Arabia could have repercussions “everywhere” in the world by further increasing the price of hydrocarbons. The Houthi attacks on the Gulf petromonarchy are unprecedented since the military coalition led by Riyadh entered the war in 2015 in support of the Yemeni government.

After a lull from 2022, the conflict resumed in July, a new front in the war in the Middle East. In September, the Houthis seized Yemen's Red Sea coastline, strengthening their hold on the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. On the Yemeni ground, the coalition said it had struck oil installations in the capital, Sanaa, in the hands of the Houthis, and other infrastructure in the country on Tuesday evening.

Despite Saudi air strikes, government forces are struggling to retake territories conquered by pro-Iranian fighters, who have notably tightened their grip on Taiz, the country's third city. The World Food Program (WFP) warned on Wednesday that the fighting had cut off the organization's access to some 800,000 people. “Hospitals and health structures are overwhelmed,” the International Committee of the Red Cross was alarmed, citing an “unprecedented” increase in war wounded.