Houthis Warn Airlines to Avoid Saudi Airports After Deadly Riyadh Strike

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree issued a fresh warning to the aviation and shipping industry, telling companies, airlines, staff and travelers to stay away from Saudi airports and the kingdom's airspace. In a post on X cited by Al-Jazeera, Saree said those locations are vulnerable to being targeted and could become an operating area for Houthi forces. He added that the airports serving Mecca and Medina would be excluded from any form of attack.

The warning came after an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, which local authorities said killed at least 12 people and left 309 others wounded. According to Saudi civil aviation authorities, the dead included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshi citizens and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt. Operations at the airport have been suspended.

The strike followed earlier claims by the Houthi movement in Yemen that it had carried out similar attacks. The Saudi-led military coalition has pledged to respond to the assault, which it described as a war crime.

The exchange marks a further escalation in a conflict that has seen intensified fighting between Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces and the Houthis, who control large parts of Yemen. The Houthi warning now extends the pressure beyond the battlefield to civilian aviation and commercial shipping routes connected to Saudi Arabia.