Two airports in Saudi Arabia have been attacked as battles between the Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces intensified along the western coast overlooking the Red Sea and the strategic Bab Al Mandeb strait.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Tuesday that the attacks targeted King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jizan and Najran International Airport in the south of the kingdom, close to the Yemeni border.
The attacks caused three "minor injuries" and material damage, the authority said. It added that it was "assessing the damage and taking measures to ensure the safety of passengers and staff and maintain the security of the kingdom’s civil aviation system".
The Iran-backed Houthis had claimed on Monday night to have attacked King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, Abha International Airport and the Khamis Mushait military base. Those attacks could not be immediately verified.
Aviation monitoring platform FlightsRadar24 said flights to and from Riyadh's main airport were "on hold" on Tuesday. The airport's website could not be accessed.
Two Saudis in Riyadh told The National on Monday that they heard explosions in the early evening, as the US mission in the kingdom encouraged all American citizens to "remain vigilant" amid the "ongoing security situation in Saudi Arabia and the potential for aerial drone or missile attacks".
On Monday, Turkey and Pakistan agreed to provide "military forces and capabilities" to Saudi Arabia as it faced attacks from the Houthis. Ministers and military commanders from the three countries gathered in Riyadh for talks on the Makkah defence pact.
The committee established by the three allies "decided to move immediately to the practical implementation of the collective commitments and to take the necessary measures to provide the agreed military forces and capabilities and ensure their rapid deployment in the kingdom", a joint statement said. The parliaments of both Pakistan and Turkey must approve the pact before each country's leaders can ratify it.
Attacks by the Houthis come as battles with Yemeni government forces continue on the western coast, with the Saudi-led coalition offering aerial support and attacking Houthi positions in the capital Sanaa and Hodeidah.
Coalition spokesman Maj Gen Turki Al Malki said its forces "destroyed a ballistic missile launch platform in the capital, Sanaa, and a ballistic missile storage facility at a mountainous site in Saada containing 20 ballistic missiles".
He added that coalition naval forces carried out an operation in Hodeidah that destroyed "legitimate military targets belonging to the terrorist Houthi militia" and "thwarting a plot for imminent attacks targeting waterways" in the southern Red Sea, and "destroying weapons depots, storage facilities for explosive-laden boats, and naval mines".
Yemeni government forces on Monday claimed that they secured control of the Bab Al Mandeb strait, the Dhubab area overlooking the sea lane, and the strategic port city of Mokha. The Houthis denied losing control of those areas.
The strait is the southern exit passage for the Red Sea, a key shipping route between the Mediterranean and Asia. The waterway has assumed even more importance this year as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, which has been effectively closed since the outbreak of the Iran war.
