Saudi Arabia reopens Riyadh airport after Houthi attacks but flights remain limited

Saudi Arabia reported that two terminals at its primary airport reopened on Sunday, despite threats from Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis to continue targeting the hub, which they branded a "military target".Operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh were suspended on October 10 after a Houthi-claimed assault left 13 people dead, marking the kingdom’s deadliest attack in over a decade.Riyadh stated that it intercepted another barrage of drones and missiles on Sunday as hostilities with the militant group continued unabated.Houthi forces claimed responsibility for targeting the aviation hub along with additional locations across the kingdom, including Jazan and Khamis Mushait. It remains unconfirmed whether these actions corresponded to the strikes Saudi Arabia claimed to have blocked.This conflict has become an increasingly destabilizing element in the US-Israeli offensive against Iran, turning American ally Saudi Arabia into a pressure point in the wider war.Flight tracking data shows little trafficFollowing the kingdom's declaration of a partial resumption of operations, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree declared the hub would "never be safe" and urged airlines, airport staff and travelers not to use it.Large plume of black smoke rises from the fuel storage area at King Khalid International Airport (Reuters)Late on Saturday, the airport announced Terminal 1 would be designated for domestic flights and Terminal 2 for international flights operated by national carriers starting Sunday.Despite the announcement, flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed little traffic at the airport on Sunday.The Saudi-led coalition said earlier this month that the Houthis had carried out 20 attacks on the airport between October 1 and 11.Missile and drone attacks continueSaudi civil defense stated on Sunday that shrapnel from two intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles over Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah injured two people and damaged residential buildings and vehicles.Civil defense authorities earlier issued emergency alerts for Riyadh and the cities of Abha, Khamis Mushait, Jazan and Najran on Sunday, before saying minutes later that the danger had passed.The coalition reported two drones and a ballistic missile launched toward Riyadh, alongside a cruise missile aimed at Khamis Mushait. It subsequently stated it intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired toward southern Saudi Arabia.The Houthis stated they attacked the airport and Saudi oil facilities on Saturday. Kingdom authorities did not comment directly on the Houthi statements.Saudi Arabia has intensified its strikes against the Houthis after the group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month, closing in on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait – a global maritime chokepoint and shipping route for Gulf oil producers on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula to the Strait of Hormuz.The renewed fighting in Yemen has shattered a UN-brokered truce that had largely held since 2022. Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 at the head of a coalition supporting the internationally recognized government, after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa a year earlier.