In brief
Yemen’s Iran‑backed Houthi movement claimed responsibility for a drone strike on Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport on 22 October, killing a Saudi citizen and an Indian expatriate and wounding eight more. Saudi authorities confirmed the attack but did not detail the weapon used. Earlier that day, a second drone’s debris struck a facility in the eastern province, killing two foreign workers and igniting a vehicle. The Houthis said they had targeted several Saudi sites, including Riyadh’s defence ministry, Yanbu’s Aramco facility, and Abha International Airport, as retaliation for Saudi air raids in Yemen. Since early October, at least 21 people have died in Houthi attacks on Saudi airports, highlighting the spillover of Yemen’s civil war into regional security concerns.
Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed it carried out a drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on 22 October, killing a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident and injuring eight other civilians, Saudi authorities confirmed.
While the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation did not disclose the weapon type used, the Houthis said the airport was one of several targets attacked with drones and missiles during the previous 48 hours.
Earlier that morning, a separate drone that was intercepted over the Eastern Province crashed into a processing facility owned by state oil company Aramco in the Shaybah oil field. The incident killed two foreign workers – a Filipino and a Nepalese – and set a vehicle on fire, the Saudi energy ministry reported.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea denied responsibility for the oil‑field strike but listed a broader campaign. He said the group had also struck the Saudi Defence Ministry’s headquarters in Riyadh, an Aramco site in Yanbu, and Abha International Airport in the south.
Saudi‑led coalition forces intercepted a total of eight drones over the Eastern Province, Riyadh and Medina on Wednesday and Thursday nights, according to the Saudi Defence Ministry.
Since the start of October, at least 21 people have been killed in Houthi attacks on Saudi airports. The most devastating strike occurred on 10 October when a missile hit Riyadh’s international airport, killing 13 people and injuring 308.
The Houthis reiterated that their attacks were retaliation for Saudi air strikes on territories they control in western Yemen. According to Houthi‑run media, at least 155 civilians have been killed in the ongoing clash since the civil war intensified three months ago, while the government’s health ministry cites 1,574 casualties.
Re‑ignoring a four‑year‑old informal ceasefire, the Houthis began a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia in July, launching missile and drone attacks on airports, oil facilities and shipping lanes in the Red Sea, exacerbating regional tensions and affecting global oil prices.
Despite recent Saudi‑led counter‑offensive efforts that reclaimed territory overlooking the Bab al‑Mandab Strait, fighting continues in Yemen’s western, northern and southern provinces, underscoring the diffuse nature of the conflict’s spillover effects.
