Saudi airport hit again as Riyadh set to host major events

RIYADH:

Saudi Arabia’s main airport came under renewed attack from Houthi rebels, a day after a strike on the facility killed 12 people and heaped pressure on the Middle East’s biggest economy as it prepares to host major events that seek to boost foreign investment.

An unidentified projectile hit a passenger terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Sunday, with authorities tackling a blaze, the Saudi-led coalition that’s fighting Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, said in a statement. The Houthis swiftly claimed the attacks, saying they were a response to “Saudi aggression,” including a strike on the airport in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa.

The Saudi civil aviation authority said that the attack killed one person and injured 11. The coalition also said air defences had intercepted a missile near the same location in the Saudi capital.

The incident follows the strike on King Khalid airport on Saturday that also injured more than 300 people and marked the deadliest single event in Saudi Arabia since the Iran war began in late February. A projectile also fell near the King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s Dammam, which the Houthis also claimed as one of their attacks.

The blast at the Riyadh airport on Saturday brought travel at the airport to a near-standstill. It also forced the capital’s financial hub to shift to remote work until further notice and prompted executives from BP Plc and Shell Plc to pull out of a major energy event in the city this week.

The UK government warned Sunday against all but essential travel to Jeddah and Dammam, as well as to all Saudi airports except for Medina. It suggested British citizens consider departing Saudi Arabia via land to neighboring countries.

The Federal Aviation Administration on Sunday issued a warning to all US airlines to exercise caution flying to or over parts of Saudi Arabia “at all altitudes”.

Authorities have indicated the 25th World Petroleum Congress and associated events, due to run from Sunday through Oct 15, will go ahead. The city is also scheduled to host the Future Investment Initiative, Riyadh’s flagship investor gathering, later this month.

The two events are set to draw industry heavyweights, including Wall Street titans such as Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon and BlackRock’s Larry Fink.

The FII’s organisers on Sunday said they were preparing to “welcome thousands of delegates to Riyadh” for the event starting Oct 26.

“Comprehensive security measures will be in place at Riyadh’s airports, our conference venues and official hotels, with coordinated arrangements for participants’ transportation and movements,” the group’s chief executive officer, Maha Al Saud, said in a statement.

The Houthis seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and have been fighting a Saudi-led coalition almost ever since.

Saturday’s strike came less than a week after Saudi-backed forces in Yemen launched a campaign to retake Houthi-held areas and “eliminate” the group. The rebels, who frequently claim attacks on Saudi oil facilities, had recently seized more Yemeni territory and bolstered their control over the Bab el-Mandeb, a global shipping choke-point.

The Saudi-led coalition called “the cowardly terrorist attack” on the airport on Saturday “a full-fledged war crime” by the Houthis.

The victims included four Saudis, a Palestinian, two Bangladeshis and one person each from the US, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Sudan, according to authorities.

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