Smoke rises near airport in Riyadh after air raid alert

Smoke and flames rose near Riyadh’s international airport yesterday, as a flight tracking Web site reported cancelations and delays at the hub, hours after Saudi Arabian authorities issued an air raid alert.

Firefighters could be seen trying to extinguish the flames of a burnt-out fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi Arabian oil giant Aramco near the airport.

FlightRadar24 reported “major problems” at the Riyadh King Khalid International Airport, listing it under its maximum disruption index.

A man on Friday in Hodeida, Yemen, holds up the Koran as supporters of Houthi authorities march during a protest against Saudi Arabia’s intervention in Yemen and its accusation that the Houthis fired at the holy city of Mecca.

Photo: AFP

The disruption follows an overnight air raid alert issued by Saudi authorities, the first since fighting in neighboring Yemen intensified this month.

Hours after the early morning alert, residents said on condition of anonymity that they heard what sounded like another round of explosions echoing through parts of the capital.

“In the direction of the airport, we saw black smoke and fire,” one resident said.

This is the first time since Yemen’s long-standing civil war resumed that it has threatened the Saudi Arabian capital, further shaking a global economy already under pressure by nearly seven months of war between the US and Iran.

“The area is under a hostile aerial threat,” according to a message received by Riyadh residents, urging them to stay indoors.

Journalists heard two explosions, before the Saudi Arabian civil defense agency lifted the alert half an hour later.

“I heard the alarm, then my windows shook,” a Riyadh resident said. “It was definitely scary. I was not expecting this.”

Another resident described the attack as “terrifying.”

“I was extremely anxious — especially because, unlike previous times, the ‘all-clear’ signal didn’t come right away,” they said.

Saudi Arabia has not commented on the threat mentioned in the warnings sent overnight to residents of several regions and has not identified where it originated from.

The incident comes days after Riyadh accused the Houthis of targeting Mecca on Wednesday, denouncing it as a “cowardly terrorist attack” on Islam’s holy city, which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year.

The Iran-backed Houthis strongly denied the accusation, calling it a “worn-out lie.”