Thick smoke seen near Riyadh airport as Houthis claim attack on Saudi capital
✓Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of black smoke were seen rising above Riyadh airport on Saturday.
The Saudi government sent air raid alerts to citizens by phone overnight warning of aerial attacks, marking the first time the government has issued such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis escalated in July.
Explosions were heard in Riyadh as firefighters battled to extinguish the flames of a burning fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil company Aramco near the city’s King Khalid international airport.
Residents told Agence France-Presse that hours after the alert, they had heard what sounded like another round of explosions echoing through parts of the Saudi capital.
According to tracking website FlightRadar24, there were “major problems” at the airport and it has been listed under its maximum disruption index.
“In the direction of the airport, we saw black smoke and fire,” one resident told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi civil defence force sent air raid alerts overnight on Friday to residents of Riyadh, Jeddah and other cities including Yanbu, a major industrial port which is home to critical oil facilities. The military coalition fighting the Houthis said its air defences had destroyed a missile fired by the Yemeni group toward Riyadh.
The all-clear was given shortly afterwards, but residents were encouraged not to gather in crowds.
A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the group had foiled unspecified “criminal attempts” in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, blaming Saudi Arabia and vowing a response. The group also said the Saudi air force had conducted hundreds of airstrikes against it in recent days.
The UN security council condemned the continued Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia in a statement on Friday. It said they had included attacks that affected civilian and energy infrastructure and had injured civilians, including women and children.
It also condemned the Houthis’ military offensive in Yemen, where nearly 105,000 people have fled their homes, the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday.
The security council’s 15 members called for “practical cooperation” to prevent the Houthis from acquiring arms, military training, financing and other military-related assistance needed to carry out their attacks. They stressed that all countries must enforce the UN arms embargo against the group.
The Houthis recently seized control of strategic the Red Sea islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish. Earlier this month, the group captured the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait, fueling fears the world could face a second oil supply crisis.
The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has developed as a new theatre of conflict in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran at the end of February. Donald Trump has rebuffed Saudi requests for direct US military intervention against the Houthis.
A US state department security alert issued on Saturday for Americans in the Middle East cited Houthi attacks. The state department urged US citizens in the region to “exercise heightened vigilance” and said Americans outside the Middle East “should seriously reconsider travel to and through the region”.
Elsewhere in the region, Israel’s military launched airstrikes in several areas of southern Lebanon after it said that two of its soldiers were wounded by a “Hezbollah explosive device”.
Associated Press also reported on Saturday that Israeli strikes had killed three men in the Gaza Strip.
In Iran, a man accused of spying for Israel was executed in the latest of a recent surge of executions in the country.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · Al Jazeera ↗ · NPR ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Authorities issued warnings for city in first such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with Iran-backed Houthis escalated in July. Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive”…
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Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of black smoke were seen rising above Riyadh airport on Saturday.
The Saudi government sent air raid alerts to citizens by phone overnight warning of aerial attacks, marking the first time the government has issued such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis escalated in July.
Explosions were heard in Riyadh as firefighters battled to extinguish the flames of a burning fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil company Aramco near the city’s King Khalid international airport.
Residents told Agence France-Presse that hours after the alert, they had heard what sounded like another round of explosions echoing through parts of the Saudi capital.
According to tracking website FlightRadar24, there were “major problems” at the airport and it has been listed under its maximum disruption index.
“In the direction of the airport, we saw black smoke and fire,” one resident told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi civil defence force sent air raid alerts overnight on Friday to residents of Riyadh, Jeddah and other cities including Yanbu, a major industrial port which is home to critical oil facilities. The military coalition fighting the Houthis said its air defences had destroyed a missile fired by the Yemeni group toward Riyadh.
The all-clear was given shortly afterwards, but residents were encouraged not to gather in crowds.
A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the group had foiled unspecified “criminal attempts” in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, blaming Saudi Arabia and vowing a response. The group also said the Saudi air force had conducted hundreds of airstrikes against it in recent days.
The UN security council condemned the continued Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia in a statement on Friday. It said they had included attacks that affected civilian and energy infrastructure and had injured civilians, including women and children.
It also condemned the Houthis’ military offensive in Yemen, where nearly 105,000 people have fled their homes, the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday.
The security council’s 15 members called for “practical cooperation” to prevent the Houthis from acquiring arms, military training, financing and other military-related assistance needed to carry out their attacks. They stressed that all countries must enforce the UN arms embargo against the group.
The Houthis recently seized control of strategic the Red Sea islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish. Earlier this month, the group captured the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait, fueling fears the world could face a second oil supply crisis.
The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has developed as a new theatre of conflict in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran at the end of February. Donald Trump has rebuffed Saudi requests for direct US military intervention against the Houthis.
A US state department security alert issued on Saturday for Americans in the Middle East cited Houthi attacks. The state department urged US citizens in the region to “exercise heightened vigilance” and said Americans outside the Middle East “should seriously reconsider travel to and through the region”.
Elsewhere in the region, Israel’s military launched airstrikes in several areas of southern Lebanon after it said that two of its soldiers were wounded by a “Hezbollah explosive device”.
Associated Press also reported on Saturday that Israeli strikes had killed three men in the Gaza Strip.
In Iran, a man accused of spying for Israel was executed in the latest of a recent surge of executions in the country.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · Al Jazeera ↗ · NPR ↗ · The Guardian ↗
Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive” sites in the Saudi capital with missiles and drones, hours after flames and a large plume of black smoke were seen rising above Riyadh airport on Saturday.
The Saudi government sent air raid alerts to citizens by phone overnight warning of aerial attacks, marking the first time the government has issued such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with the Iran-backed Houthis escalated in July.
Explosions were heard in Riyadh as firefighters battled to extinguish the flames of a burning fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil company Aramco near the city’s King Khalid international airport.
Residents told Agence France-Presse that hours after the alert, they had heard what sounded like another round of explosions echoing through parts of the Saudi capital.
According to tracking website FlightRadar24, there were “major problems” at the airport and it has been listed under its maximum disruption index.
“In the direction of the airport, we saw black smoke and fire,” one resident told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi civil defence force sent air raid alerts overnight on Friday to residents of Riyadh, Jeddah and other cities including Yanbu, a major industrial port which is home to critical oil facilities. The military coalition fighting the Houthis said its air defences had destroyed a missile fired by the Yemeni group toward Riyadh.
The all-clear was given shortly afterwards, but residents were encouraged not to gather in crowds.
A Houthi military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said the group had foiled unspecified “criminal attempts” in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, blaming Saudi Arabia and vowing a response. The group also said the Saudi air force had conducted hundreds of airstrikes against it in recent days.
The UN security council condemned the continued Houthi attacks against Saudi Arabia in a statement on Friday. It said they had included attacks that affected civilian and energy infrastructure and had injured civilians, including women and children.
It also condemned the Houthis’ military offensive in Yemen, where nearly 105,000 people have fled their homes, the International Organization for Migration said on Wednesday.
The security council’s 15 members called for “practical cooperation” to prevent the Houthis from acquiring arms, military training, financing and other military-related assistance needed to carry out their attacks. They stressed that all countries must enforce the UN arms embargo against the group.
The Houthis recently seized control of strategic the Red Sea islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish. Earlier this month, the group captured the port of Mokha and Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait, fueling fears the world could face a second oil supply crisis.
The fighting between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia has developed as a new theatre of conflict in the wider war that began with US and Israeli strikes against Iran at the end of February. Donald Trump has rebuffed Saudi requests for direct US military intervention against the Houthis.
A US state department security alert issued on Saturday for Americans in the Middle East cited Houthi attacks. The state department urged US citizens in the region to “exercise heightened vigilance” and said Americans outside the Middle East “should seriously reconsider travel to and through the region”.
Elsewhere in the region, Israel’s military launched airstrikes in several areas of southern Lebanon after it said that two of its soldiers were wounded by a “Hezbollah explosive device”.
Associated Press also reported on Saturday that Israeli strikes had killed three men in the Gaza Strip.
In Iran, a man accused of spying for Israel was executed in the latest of a recent surge of executions in the country.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · Al Jazeera ↗ · NPR ↗ · The Guardian ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- Authorities issued warnings for city in first such alerts for Riyadh since fighting with Iran-backed Houthis escalated in July.
- Yemen’s Houthis said they attacked “sensitive”…