A column of black smoke rose near King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, hours after Saudi authorities issued air raid alerts urging residents to stay indoors. It was the first such warning to residents of the capital since Houthi militants escalated their campaign against Saudi Arabia.
Residents told AFP, on condition of anonymity, that they heard explosions echoing through the city following the alerts. “I heard the alarm, then my windows shook,” said a 27-year-old resident of northern Riyadh. “It was definitely scary. I was not expecting this.” Saudi Civil Defence had sent phone warnings overnight flagging potential danger across Riyadh and other regions before issuing an all-clear Saturday morning.
An AFP journalist on the ground reported firefighters working to extinguish a burning fuel tank belonging to Aramco, the state oil and gas company, near the airport perimeter. Flight-tracking service FlightRadar24 recorded significant delays and cancellations at King Khalid earlier in the day. Saudi authorities have not issued an official statement on the incident.
According to a report by the BBC, Houthis recently seized the port city of Mokha and Perim Island, blocking a shipping corridor that Saudi Arabia has relied on for oil exports to Asia and Europe since the Strait of Hormuz was effectively closed by the US-Israel war with Iran. On Friday, the International Organization for Migration reported that 104,796 people had been displaced by recent fighting.
