WORLD
Saudi energy minister vows response to deadly attacks
‘The events of recent weeks are serious, our response must be equally serious.’
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s energy minister acknowledged on Monday that the kingdom’s infrastructure and resilience had been tested, as he vowed a firm response following a wave of deadly attacks by Yemen’s Houthis.
The Houthi attacks over the weekend marked a sharp escalation in the Yemen war, where Saudi Arabia has long supported the internationally recognized government.
On Sunday, a strike hit Riyadh’s international airport, killing one person, just hours after another Houthi-claimed attack on the site killed 13 people and left hundreds of others wounded, forcing authorities to suspend operations there.
The attacks on Saudi Arabia, a regional powerhouse and the world’s top oil exporter which has poured billions of dollars into its military, were the deadliest to hit the kingdom in a decade.
“For Saudi Arabia, these circumstances have tested our infrastructure, our institutions, our people, and our resilience. They have also tested decisions made long before present crises, because resilience is built before crises begin,” Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said.
“Energy security can’t be taken for granted,” he told a high-profile conference in Riyadh. “The events of recent weeks are serious, our response must be equally serious.”
‘The whole house shook’
The Houthis on Sunday claimed multiple attacks over the last 24 hours, including on the airport, and threatened to keep targeting the kingdom’s transit hubs, calling them “a theater of operations for our forces.”
Hours later, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the group reported that a projectile struck the capital’s King Khalid International Airport, sparking a fire.
Air defenses also intercepted a missile nearby, it added.
Agence France-Presse journalists and locals reported hearing multiple blasts in the city on Sunday.
“The whole house shook,” said one resident of the Al-Aarid neighborhood in the city’s north.
Authorities extended the suspension of operations at the airport, even as Saudi Arabia’s high-profile convention and entertainment season kicks off this month.
Riyadh usually hosts a packed calendar of events, including its flagship investment conference drawing foreign leaders and business titans.
The airport was not the only one in the country to be targeted: the civil aviation authority also reported another attack on Dammam airport in the east.
The Saudi-led coalition said Monday it had also “intercepted and destroyed” a Houthi ballistic missile heading for the southern city of Khamis Mushait, home to a major military base.