Booms and flight disruptions in Riyadh as Saudi-Houthi war escalates

By Timour Azhari

RIYADH, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have stepped up their deadly campaign of strikes on Saudi Arabia’s capital Riyadh, where booms were heard on Thursday, flights disrupted, and some office staff told to work from home.

The Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile at Riyadh airport and repeated a threat to force Saudi airspace to close after the kingdom gave support to the forces of Yemen’s internationally recognised government in a reignited civil war.

The conflict, now an overspill of the US-Iran war, has added new chaos to a region already aflame, and threatens to draw other states into gruelling mountain fighting – with Syria now considering deploying troops to assist Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom has pushed for support from allied nations, including Turkey and Pakistan, even if only in a logistical or defensive capacity, as it tries to reverse Houthi gains in southwest Yemen, by the southern entrance to the Red Sea.

Those requests have taken on more urgency since Saudi authorities said on Wednesday that three people had been killed this week in strikes on Riyadh airport and Abha airport in the southwest.

CIVIL WAR REIGNITED BY CONFLICT IN IRAN

The flight tracker FlightRadar24 indicated numerous delayed arrivals and departures at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Thursday.

Several mulitinational firms based in Riyadh’s King Abdullah Financial District (KAFD) told staff to work from home after Thursday morning’s loud booms, five people familiar with the matter said, including some affected staff.

The Saudi government did not respond to a request for comment, and KAFD was not immediately available for comment.

Some diplomats said they had received warnings, and some schools in Riyadh told parents there were orders to shelter in place, though authorities did not issue a public alert. Reuters could not identify the source of the booms.

Yemen’s long-running civil war, which paused with a ceasefire in 2022, has erupted again in recent weeks with the Houthis seizing stretches of the Red Sea coast last month, including along the vital Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

The Houthis, who control many of Yemen’s most populous areas, including the capital Sanaa, have said they were responding to attacks from the Saudi-backed government, which the government denies.

Their threats to shipping along a waterway that has become ever more critical for Gulf oil exports since Iran’s attacks in the Strait of Hormuz, and their attacks on Saudi cities and infrastructure, have drawn the kingdom back in.

This week, Saudi-backed forces launched a counter attack, taking back areas around the strait.

However, in a war with several frontlines, the Houthis have made gains of their own, surrounding Yemen’s third-largest city, Taiz, by taking territory along its main mountain road to Aden.

The fighting, which pits the Houthis against a coalition of Saudi-backed forces under the internationally recognised government, has led to a humanitarian crisis in the poorest Arab state, displacing 200,000 people since the conflict resumed.

OFFICIALS SAY SYRIAN AID MIGHT BE PURELY DEFENSIVE

One US and one Syrian defence official said Syria was carefully considering options for military support, including defensive aid to protect Saudi Arabia from attacks, or an offensive deployment to help take the fight to the Houthis.

In response to a request for comment to the Syrian foreign ministry, a diplomat said Syria stood firmly with Saudi Arabia but that its focus was on domestic priorities such as recovery from its own civil war.

Saudi Arabia this summer agreed the Mecca Pact with Turkey and Pakistan, committing all three to come to each other’s defence, though Ankara has yet to ratify the treaty.

NATO-member Turkey said on Wednesday it was sending mainly defensive and technical support to the kingdom to help in the fight against the Houthis. A Turkish official said this was expected to take the form of military equipment, intelligence sharing and weapons systems.

Turkey, a close ally of Syria’s government and a supporter of its forces while they were still rebels fighting the government of Bashar al-Assad, previously brought some Syrians fight in Libya’s civil war in 2020.

Pakistan has flown military equipment to Aden in southern Yemen to help in the battle against the Houthis, sources in Pakistan have said, and has deployed troops within Saudi Arabia to help defend its borders.

The Saudi and Yemeni authorities did not respond to requests for comment.

(Writing by Angus McDowall; Additional reporting by Federico Maccioni; Editing by Philippa Fletcher and Kevin Liffey)