Two dead in eastern Saudi airport attack — Aviation authority

A late-night attack on Saudi Arabia’s Dammam airport killed two people and injured eight others, the civil aviation authority said on Thursday, as strikes by Yemen’s Houthis intensify.

A Saudi and an Indian man were killed in the attack on Wednesday, the general authority of civil aviation said in a statement, updating an earlier death toll. Damage to the airport was being assessed, it added.

On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had intercepted and destroyed a drone in the Riyadh region.

In recent weeks, Houthi attacks on Saudi oil and civilian infrastructure have reached an unprecedented scale, forcing Riyadh to shut its main airport and postpone a major investment conference.

A total of 22 people have been killed in attacks on Saudi airports this month, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

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A Houthi maritime blockade in the Red Sea is also threatening oil shipments from Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest exporter of crude.

The Houthi attacks follow the collapse in July of a years-long truce in Yemen’s civil war, where the Iran-backed group is fighting the government supported by the Saudi-led coalition.

The Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities, before launching a major offensive in September in which they seized Yemeni government-held territory along the Red Sea coast.

In response, the Saudi air force has frequently targeted areas under Houthi control, which include much of impoverished Yemen.

AFP

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