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Saudi Arabia will respond seriously to recent Houthi attacks on the kingdom’s airports and oil and gas facilities, Energy Minister Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman said at the WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh, according to the BBC.
“The events of recent weeks are serious. Our response must be equally serious,” he said.
Saudi authorities said a Pakistani man was killed on Sunday in an attack on a terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The previous day, a Houthi missile struck another terminal, killing 13 people and forcing it to close.
The Houthis said the attacks were retaliation for what they called “brutal Saudi aggression” in areas they control in western Yemen. The Houthi-run health ministry said a child was killed and six people were injured in a Saudi air strike on a home in Sanaa on Sunday.
A Saudi-led coalition has provided air support to Yemeni government forces fighting the Houthis. Yemen’s civil war began in 2014, when the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa, and escalated in 2015 after the coalition intervened to try to restore the government’s rule.
An informal ceasefire that had lasted four years began to unravel in July, when the Houthis announced a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and launched missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, energy facilities and Red Sea tankers. The Houthis have said they are responding to a Saudi blockade of ports and airports in Houthi-held territory and an air strike on Sanaa airport. Yemen’s government claimed responsibility for that strike, saying it sought to prevent an unauthorised Iranian plane from landing.
Last month, the Houthis launched an offensive on Yemen’s south-western Red Sea coast, pushing government forces from areas overlooking the Bab al-Mandab Strait. They said they did not threaten international shipping through the waterway but would continue targeting Saudi vessels.
The seizure of the strait contributed to a rise in global oil prices, as Saudi Arabia had been relying on the Red Sea for oil exports after the US-Israeli war with Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. The Yemeni government announced last week that it was launching a new offensive to retake all Houthi-held territory. Government forces said they had quickly recaptured areas around Bab al-Mandab with the support of intense Saudi air strikes, while the Houthis denied losing territory.
