Houthi Missile Attack on Riyadh Airport Kills Airline Captain Among Three

Three people, including an airline pilot, were killed in attacks on Riyadh’s international airport on Thursday, Saudi Arabia said, following Yemen’s Houthi rebels’ claims of a campaign aimed at the facility.

The Saudi civil aviation authority stated that two missile attacks on Thursday against the Saudi capital’s airport and a Saudia Airlines aircraft led to the deaths of three citizens.

The national flag carrier confirmed on Friday the death of the plane’s captain, Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, at King Khalid International Airport. The airline expressed “profound sadness” and “heartfelt condolences,” honoring “his memory with deep respect and appreciation.”

The strikes forced diplomats in the Saudi capital to shelter in place and international schools to enact safety protocols as explosions resonated across the city.

Many flights at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport were delayed or cancelled, with airport officials advising travelers to contact their airlines before departing.

The kingdom’s civil defence agency reported that “interception debris” damaged a kindergarten and a medical complex in Riyadh. It did not confirm casualties or provide specifics on the damage at those sites.

Admissions by Saudi authorities of civilian targets being struck are relatively uncommon, as have been statements regarding Houthi attacks in recent weeks.

The Houthis have also cautioned workers to evacuate Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, having struck a major refinery south of the capital days earlier.

‘Crisis in everything’

The Houthis, whose strongholds are in northwestern Yemen, have controlled the capital, Sana’a, and most of the country’s major population centers since the war began in 2014.

A Riyadh-led military coalition intervened the following year to back the government.

However, Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government forces it supports have struggled to contain the Houthis’ latest offensive, despite efforts to retake Red Sea territory, including areas around the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which is vital to global energy flows.

After declaring a counter-offensive, Yemen’s government claimed to have pushed fighters out of strategic Red Sea coastal areas and the port city of Mocha.

Yet the group, formally known as Ansar Allah, insists it holds its territory, and military sources on both sides have not reported significant ground changes.

Claims by the warring parties are impossible to verify independently, with the situation evolving rapidly and journalist access difficult.

In Yemen, one of the world’s poorest nations, civilians are bearing the cost of renewed fighting, with over 200,000 people displaced since July, according to UN data.

In Taiz, the Houthis are besieging the government-controlled western city, cutting off residents’ main supply route to the government’s temporary capital in Aden.

“There is a crisis in everything: water, gas, vegetables, everything essential”, said Taiz resident Um Rian.

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