A large plume of smoke was visible near Riyadh’s main airport on Saturday after booms were heard and Saudi Arabia sent alerts overnight warning of potential danger around the capital, amid an escalation in attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
asserted
Arabia → hear → rebels
This is the first time since Yemen’s long-standing civil war resumed that it has threatened the Saudi capital, further shaking a global economy already under pressure by nearly seven months of war between the United States and Iran.
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it → stand → States
Reuters video and photographs showed a huge pillar of black smoke rising in the area, with the airport highway, main terminal building and other facilities in the foreground.
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pillar → show → foreground
At one point in the video, flames were visible rising from behind what appeared to be fuel tanks.
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what → rise → video
Aircraft tracking website FlightRadar24 reported major issues at the Saudi capital’s Riyadh King Khalid International Airport, including cancellations and delays.
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website → track → cancellations
The airport was listed under the site’s maximum disruption index of 5.0, meaning the airport was seeing “major problems with long delays and several cancelled flights”.
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airport → list → delays
Saudi civil defence sent the alerts by phone overnight for potential danger in Riyadh and the city of Al-Kharj east of the capital, before issuing an all-clear on Saturday morning.
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defence → send → morning
“The area is under a hostile aerial threat,” said a message received just before 3:00am by Riyadh residents, urging them to stay indoors.
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message → say → them
AFP journalists then heard two explosions, before the Saudi civil defence agency lifted the alert half an hour later.
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agency → hear → alert
A Reuters journalist in Riyadh’s Olaya area also heard booms before the all-clear was sent.
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clear → hear → booms
“I heard the alarm, then my windows shook,” a Riyadh resident, 27, living in the city’s north, told AFP.
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resident → hear → AFP
I was not expecting this.”
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I → expect → this
Another resident described the attack as “terrifying”.
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resident → describe → attack
“I was extremely anxious — especially because, unlike previous times, the ‘all-clear’ signal didn’t come right away,” the central Riyadh resident said.
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resident → come → times
Saudi Arabia has not commented on the threat mentioned in the warnings sent overnight to residents of several regions and has not identified where it originated from.
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it → comment → where
Although some alerts had been issued in Riyadh this year after the start of the US-Iran war, these were the first since the escalation began with the Houthis in July.
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escalation → issue → July
The incident comes days after Riyadh accused the Houthis of targeting Makkah on Wednesday, denouncing it as a “cowardly terrorist attack” on the holy city, which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year.
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which → come → pilgrims
Houthis strongly denied the accusation, calling it a “worn-out lie”.
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Houthis → deny → it
The Houthis, who control the most populous parts of Yemen and much of the north, have been launching attacks towards Saudi Arabia since declaring a naval blockade against Riyadh in July, with strikes targeting Saudi vessels in the Red Sea.
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who → control → Sea
The attacks have created new threats to global oil supplies, putting at risk trade via Bab al-Mandab — the main alternative Red Sea route for Gulf exports — while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains blockaded.
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traffic → create → Hormuz
The Houthis insist there is no threat to shipping in the sea lane — except for Saudi ships, from the world’s leading crude exporter.
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Houthis → insist → exporter
On Friday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had foiled unspecified “criminal attempts” in the Yemeni capital Sanaa, blaming Saudi Arabia and vowing a response.
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group → say → response
The group, which seized Yemen’s entire Red Sea coast in a lightning advance this month, says the Saudi Air Force has conducted hundreds of airstrikes against it in recent days.
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Force → seize → days
The UN Security Council (UNSC) in a statement on Friday “condemned in the strongest terms continued Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, including attacks impacting civilian and energy infrastructure, which have resulted in the injury of civilians, including women and children”.
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which → condemn → women
In the statement, the UNSC also condemned “Houthi military escalation in Yemen”.
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UNSC → condemn → Yemen
The US, according to Axios, last week refused to strike the Houthis at Saudi Arabia’s request.
uncertain
US → accord → request
On Thursday, Washington approved a $24.3 billion sale of 48 F-35 fighter jets to the kingdom to help Riyadh “deter current and future threats”, the US State Department said.
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Department → approve → threats
The attack targeting Riyadh comes as the Houthis improve their defences in newly conquered territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, with members of the group telling AFP they have been installing radar and digging tunnels.
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they → target → tunnels
The United Nations said on Friday that the renewed fighting had displaced more than 112,000 people while nearly 3,000 others had fled across the sea to Djibouti.
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others → say → Djibouti
The war in Yemen broke out in 2014 when the Houthis seized control of the capital Sanaa and other regions, triggering a military intervention led by Saudi Arabia in March 2015.
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Houthis → break → March
The fragile truce reached in 2022 between the warring parties collapsed in July, when the Houthis defied Riyadh’s control of Yemeni airspace by allowing an Iranian aircraft to land in Yemen.
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aircraft → reach → Yemen
The Aporia
