Three people killed in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia airports, officials say

Three people were killed in Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabian airports over a two‑day period, officials said, as fighting spilled across the Yemen border into the kingdom. According to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (Gaca), two people were killed and 28 wounded in an assault on Abha International Airport on Wednesday. In a separate incident, one person was killed and eight wounded in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the agency added. The attacks, claimed by the Houthi movement, mark an escalation in the renewed war between the Saudi‑backed government forces and the Iran‑backed Houthis in Yemen. Gaca said the two airports were struck on 6 and 7 October, though it did not specify which facility was hit on each day. During the Abha attack, two women—one Moroccan and one Algerian—were killed near the Yemen border, the authority reported. At King Khalid airport, a Sudanese national male was killed, Gaca said. The civilian aviation authority did not name the perpetrators, but Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said his forces launched ballistic missiles and drones at both Saudi airports. Saree also said the Houthis targeted Aden’s International Airport in Yemen on Wednesday, describing it as a main international gateway for areas outside Houthi control that has been repeatedly hit when fighting flares up. He characterized the airport strikes as a response to “Saudi aggression against our country,” citing “60 airstrikes and rocket attacks in the past 24 hours”. The Yemen civil war has deteriorated in recent weeks after the Houthis, who control much of the northwest, seized strategically important sections of the Red Sea coastline in a rapid offensive, including the port of Mokha at the Bab al‑Mandab Strait, the narrowest chokepoint for global shipping. Read the full story at BBC News →