Riyadh airport reopens two terminals as Houthis warn it remains a military target

Airport reopens with limited terminals

The King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh resumed flights on Sunday, 25 October, after a closure of more than two weeks. The airport said Terminal 1 would handle domestic flights and Terminal 2 international flights, and Terminal 2 will be used only by Saudi airlines. The airport did not say what condition the rest of the facility was in after the attacks. Riyadh Air said on its website that its flights would leave from Al Qassim airport in central Saudi Arabia instead of Riyadh, and international airlines still had their connections to and from the kingdom suspended. Flight tracking showed an aircraft taking off early in the morning, and dozens of flights were reported to have left for London, Dubai and Beijing.

Houthi warning to airlines

The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree warned airlines, their staff and travellers about the danger of using the Riyadh airport, which he described as unsafe. He told Saudi Arabia that it would bear the consequences of any operation at the airport and its repercussions, and said Houthi operations there would continue.

The airport is unsafe and constitutes a military target

Saree repeated the warning after the airport announced its reopening, saying the airport would never be a safe place. The coalition led by Saudi Arabia said its spokesman Turki al-Maliki had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile and drones aimed at the Riyadh province on the same day. Reports differ on the drone count, with one or two drones named depending on the source.

Missile debris over the holy cities

Saudi Civil Defence said on Saturday, 24 October, that debris had fallen in the Mecca and Medina regions after two ballistic missiles were intercepted.

Debris fell in the regions of Mecca and Medina after the interception of two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthi militia toward those regions

The debris reportedly landed at Wadi al-Mughmas in Mecca, in the Al Nuzha district of Jeddah province, in Wadi Yalil in Taif province and in Masturah in Rabigh province. The Houthis confirmed seven attacks on Saudi territory with drones and ballistic missiles, but did not name Mecca or Medina, which they avoid for religious reasons. Saree called the accusation a lie and listed the seven targets: Riyadh airport, an Aramco facility in Yanbu, the Rabigh refinery, east-west pipeline pumping stations, King Fahd airport in Dammam, Najran airport and Jamis Mushait air base.

Fighting inside Yemen

Yemeni government military spokesman Mayed Abdulah al-Nazili said more than 300 Houthi fighters had been killed in over 700 attack operations in the previous 24 hours, and that 68 vehicles had been destroyed. The Yemeni army said a Houthi missile accidentally struck a house in Sanaa, killing three people and injuring five, with women and children reportedly among the victims. Al-Masirah, a Houthi-run broadcaster, reported four people killed in western Sanaa and eight killed at a cement factory near the city, along with around 20 airstrikes on Mokha. The government also reported that two ballistic missiles were fired at Aden airport. The renewed escalation followed US-Israeli attacks on Iran at the end of February, according to one report.