In brief
Yemen’s Houthis launched a drone attack on the eastern Saudi airport of Dammam, killing a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident and injuring eight. Saudi authorities confirmed the casualties but left the attack type unclear, while Houthi officials listed multiple aerial strikes across the kingdom, including Riyadh and Abha. This event follows a series of drone and missile attacks in the last 48 hours, part of the broader conflict sparked by the Saudi-led coalition’s intervention in Yemen. The latest strike adds to the growing toll of civilian casualties in the Houthi‑Saudi confrontations.
Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility for a drone attack on the King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia, on Wednesday evening. Saudi authorities said the strike killed a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident and wounded eight others.
The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation, which oversaw the airport, did not disclose what type of weapon was used, but the Houthis said the airport had been one of several targets hit by drones and missiles over the previous 48 hours. In a related incident, the Saudi energy ministry reported that debris from an intercepted drone led to the deaths of two Filipino and Nepali residents early that morning.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Sarea outlined a broader campaign that included attacks on the Saudi defence ministry’s headquarters in Riyadh, an Aramco facility in Yanbu, and the Abha International Airport. Saudi-led coalition fighters intercepted a total of eight drones over the Eastern Province, Riyadh and Medina on Wednesday and Thursday.
The latest attack brings the total number of Saudi casualties from Houthi strikes on airports since early October to 21. The most devastating incident occurred at Riyadh International Airport on 10 October, killing 13 and wounding 308.
The Houthi fighters say their strikes are retaliation for Saudi air raids on Yemen’s territory. Houthi-run media report that 155 civilians have been killed in the war since it intensified three months ago, while the Saudi government’s figures exceed 1,500 fatalities. More than 256,000 people have been displaced as fighting spreads across Yemen, from the Bab al-Mandab Strait to the southern cities of Taiz and Marib.
These ongoing hostilities threaten global maritime trade routes and have already impacted oil prices and regional security dynamics involving the United States, Israel and Iran.
