Black smoke, flames seen near Riyadh airport; flights cancelled, delayed
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flights → see → airport
Black smoke and flames rose near Riyadh’s international airport on Sept 19, as a flight tracking website reported cancellations and delays at the hub, hours after the Saudi authorities issued an air raid alert.
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authorities → rise → alert
Firefighters could be seen trying to extinguish the flames of a burnt out fuel tank emblazoned with the logo of the Saudi oil giant Aramco near the airport, according to a journalist at the scene.
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Firefighters → see → scene
Tracking website FlightRadar24 reported “major problems” at the Saudi capital’s Riyadh King Khalid International Airport, listing it under its maximum disruption index.
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FlightRadar24 → report → index
The disruption follows an overnight air raid alert issued by the Saudi authorities, the first since fighting in neighbouring Yemen intensified in September.
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fighting → follow → September
Hours after the early morning alert, residents said they heard what sounded like another round of explosions echoing through parts of the Saudi capital.
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what → say → capital
“In the direction of the airport, we saw black smoke and fire,” one resident said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
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resident → see → anonymity
Yemen’s Houthis have staged a lightning offensive in September, seizing swathes of territory in one of the world’s poorest countries, leaving the internationally recognised government, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, scrambling to respond.
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which → stag → Arabia
Saudi Arabia itself, one of the region’s powerhouses, conducted scores of air strikes on Houthi-held areas but failed to stop the advance.
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Arabia → conduct → advance
It has also sought help from its ally, the United States, that has not materialised.
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that → seek → ally
This is the first time since Yemen’s longstanding 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 US and Iran.
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it → resume → US
“The area is under a hostile aerial threat,” according to a message received just before 3am (8am, Singapore time) by Riyadh residents, urging them to stay indoors.
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area → accord → them
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
“I heard the alarm, then my windows shook,” a Riyadh resident, 27, living in the city’s north, said.
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resident → hear → north
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
The incident comes days after Riyadh accused the Houthis of targeting Mecca on Sept 16, denouncing it as a “cowardly terrorist attack” on Islam’s holy city, which welcomes millions of pilgrims each year, both Sunnis and Shias.
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which → come → pilgrims
The Iran-backed Houthis strongly denied the accusation, calling it a “worn-out lie”.
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Houthis → back → it
The group has reported scores of retaliatory strikes carried out daily by Riyadh since their offensive to take over the country’s entire Red Sea coast, giving them control over the vital Bab al-Mandab strait.
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group → report → strait
Riyadh was targeted with waves of attacks during an earlier period of the war, including a drone strike on the US embassy in the capital’s diplomatic quarter in March.
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Riyadh → target → March
The US, according to news platform Axios, last week refused a Saudi request to strike the Houthis.
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US → accord → Houthis
On Sept 17, Washington approved a US$24.3 billion (S$31 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 United Nations said on Sept 18 that the renewed fighting has displaced more than 112,000 people, while nearly 3,000 others have fled across the sea to Djibouti.
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others → say → Djibouti
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
Their recent takeover of the coastline has sparked global concern, with international maritime trade already impacted by Iran’s imposition of a blockade on the Strait of Hormuz since the Middle East war erupted in late February.
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war → spark → February
The Houthis insist there is no threat to shipping in the sea lane, except for ships from Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading crude exporter.
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Houthis → insist → Arabia
The attack targeting Riyadh came as the Houthis improve their defences in newly conquered territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coastline, with members of the group saying they have been installing radar and digging tunnels.
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they → target → tunnels
Two separate Houthi sources said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards had visited the area in recent days.
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Guards → say → days
Figures from maritime tracking firm Kpler showed that Saudi exports via the Bab al-Mandab strait have dropped since July, although five loaded ships passed through in the last week.
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ships → show → week
The Aporia
