Airport repeatedly targeted, school damaged: Riyadh under Houthi fire

Damage to a kindergarten after a missile interception, diplomats and schoolchildren sheltering, and an airport repeatedly targeted: Riyadh, struck by the Houthis of Yemen, is experiencing one of its most violent episodes since the start of the war in the Middle East on Thursday.

The scale and frequency of the attacks on the Saudi capital are unprecedented in eight months of a regional war triggered by US-Israeli strikes on Iran.

While the fighting has largely ceased between Washington and Tehran, the main front today is that opposing the pro-Iranian Houthi movement to the Yemeni government forces, and to Saudi Arabia which supports them.

At Riyadh airport, a plane was severely damaged, two sources briefed on the incident told AFP. The first source reported major damage to at least one aircraft, while the second stated that three planes were affected.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for three attacks on the airport on Thursday alone, again urging airlines to avoid Saudi airspace.

According to Saudi Civil Defense, "missile fragments fell in Riyadh after the interception of a ballistic missile, causing material damage to a kindergarten and a medical complex."

The airport asked passengers to check with their airline that their flight was not cancelled before going there, and Washington called on its citizens to be "more vigilant" after the attacks, prohibiting its employees from going to the airport without "special authorization".

On site, the display boards indicate several delays and cancellations. Airlines such as Air France and Lufthansa had already suspended their flights recently.

"Panic"

In the capital, loud explosions were heard, prompting diplomats to seek safety in the diplomatic quarter and businesses to evacuate their staff in the business district.

International schools have also taken precautions, according to residents' accounts, with children in some cases taking refuge in the basement as a safety measure.

"My daughter called me. She was panicking," a mother who requested anonymity told AFP.

Hostilities between the Houthis, who have controlled the Yemeni capital Sanaa and large parts of the country for more than a decade, and the government, reignited in July after years of relative calm, becoming the new front in the Middle East war.

Since then, pro-Iranian fighters have regularly bombed oil facilities in the Saudi kingdom, the world's leading crude oil exporter, and on Thursday called on staff at these sites to leave.

Pressure had already increased on airport infrastructure in recent days, with attacks on two Saudi airports, including Riyadh, which left three dead and dozens injured.

More than 200,000 displaced people

Meanwhile, fighting continues in Yemen, with more than 400 deaths since the launch on Monday of Operation "Yemen Dawn" by government forces with the support of Riyadh's fighter jets.

On Thursday, clashes in the southwest of the country left at least 83 dead, military sources on both sides told AFP.

The objective is to push back the Houthis, who, after a lightning offensive in September, took control of the entire Yemeni coastline on the Red Sea, and strengthened their hold on the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, linking Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal.

While the government speaks of "victories on several fronts", pro-Iranian fighters have denied having given ground and military sources on both sides have not reported any major developments on the front lines.

The resumption of hostilities has displaced more than 200,000 people in Yemen, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which on Wednesday expressed alarm at the lack of funding needed to deal with this new humanitarian crisis in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula.

Faced with the incessant attacks of the Houthis, in Saudi Arabia as in Yemen, Riyadh and its allies have repeatedly called for international support in recent weeks, particularly from the United States, without success so far.

Turkey, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia agreed earlier this week to move "immediately to the implementation" of a defense agreement, signed in August in Mecca, and promised a rapid deployment of forces in the kingdom - which has not yet had any known effects.

AFP