Three killed at Riyadh International airport as Yemen war expands

Smoke and flames rise from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack. (Reuters pic) RIYADH: Saudi Arabia said on Friday that three people were killed including a pilot were killed in attacks on Riyadh's international airport, after Yemen's Houthis claimed a series of attacks targeting the facility.

The conflict between the Houthis and Yemen's Saudi-backed government has widened, with the Iran-backed fighters staging repeated attacks on Saudi targets since they began a lightning offensive just across the border.

While seizing large swathes of territory along the Red Sea coast in Yemen, the Houthis have also attacked Saudi transport hubs, oil facilities and other civilian targets in the world's largest crude exporter.

The Saudi civil aviation authority said two attacks on Thursday on the Saudi capital's airport and a Saudia Airlines plane there "resulted in the martyrdom of three citizens".

The national flag carrier confirmed the death of the plane's captain, expressing "profound sadness" and citing an "incident" at King Khalid International Airport.

Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government forces it backs have struggled to contain the Houthis' advance, despite a counter-offensive aimed at recapturing territory including the area around the Bab al-Mandab strait that is crucial to global energy flows.

But a regional source told AFP on Friday that Riyadh would not bow to the Houthis' "military blackmail" and would not agree to a truce until the Yemeni government regains all territory it has lost in recent weeks.

The attacks forced diplomats stationed in the Saudi capital to shelter in place and international schools to take safety measures, as explosions echoed across the city on Thursday.

Numerous flights at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport were delayed or cancelled, while the airport advised travellers of the "necessity" to contact airlines before their trips.

The kingdom's civil defence agency also said "interception debris" had damaged a kindergarten and a medical complex in Riyadh. It did not say if there were casualties there or provide details of the damage.

- 'Crisis in everything' -

The Houthis, whose heartlands are among the Zaidi Shia Muslims in the northwest, had already controlled the capital Sanaa and most of Yemen's major population centres since the start of the war in 2014.

Riyadh's military coalition intervened to support the government the following year.

After declaring their counter-offensive against the Houthis, Yemen's government claimed to have pushed the fighters out of strategic areas on the Red Sea coast and the port city of Mocha.

But the Houthis insist they are holding their territory, and military sources from both sides contacted by AFP have not reported any major changes on the ground.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group launched missiles at an airport in Najran and an airbase in Khamis Mushait on Thursday.

The Houthis have also warned workers to evacuate Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, having days before hit a major refinery south of the capital.

Admissions by Saudi authorities of civilian targets being hit are relatively rare. There have been few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks.

Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast and access for journalists difficult.

In Yemen, one of the world's poorest countries, ordinary civilians are paying the price for the renewed fighting, with more than 200,000 people displaced since July, according to UN data.

In Yemen's Taiz, the Houthis are laying siege to the government-controlled city in the country's west, depriving residents of their main supply route to the government's temporary capital in Aden.

"There is a crisis in everything: water, gas, vegetables, everything essential", said Um Rian.