Saudi Arabia fends off more attacks after fatal weekend strikes

Saudi Arabia said it was dealing with new drone and cruise missile attacks on Monday, posing fresh security threats to the kingdom following the weekend’s deadly strikes on Riyadh airport. “We have detected and are monitoring a threat involving drones and cruise missiles against the kingdom and the threat is being dealt with,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported. It cited defense ministry spokesman Turki al-Maliki on behalf of a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. The coalition said earlier it had intercepted missiles and drones aimed at the kingdom overnight, including areas that are home to some of Saudi Arabia’s key oil and gas facilities. Saudi authorities on Monday extended a suspension of operations at the King Khalid International Airport (RUH) in the capital, Riyadh, where two separate attacks over the weekend killed at least fourteen people and wounded more than 300, many critically. King Fahd International Airport (DMM) in Dammam was targeted separately. [caption id="attachment_57299355" align="aligncenter" width="500"] (Courtesy/RUH)[/caption] The events mark the deadliest strikes for Saudi Arabia since the Iran war began and come just a week after Saudi-led forces in Yemen launched a campaign to retake areas held by Iran-backed Houthi militia, including the Bab el-Mandeb strait and “eliminate” the group. As the violence stretched into Monday, the coalition vowed a “decisive” response. Against that backdrop, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, one of the most senior Saudi officials to speak publicly in the wake of the strikes, sought to project resilience, telling oil industry executives that the kingdom remained committed to providing energy security. “There is no way that somebody will break our back. We are like a phoenix. We come out of the ashes all the time and every time,” Prince Abdulaziz said at an energy event on Sunday. At the World Petroleum Congress on Monday, he called for a serious response to events of recent weeks, while noting the country should remain focused on economic diversification and investment. The WPC gathering itself has been disrupted by the hostilities, with some executives who had been scheduled to attend, including the chief executives of BP Plc and Shell Plc, withdrawing. Riyadh has been in conflict with Houthi militants ever since the Houthis took control over the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014 and forced the internationally recognized government backed by Saudi Arabia to resign the following year. U.S. President Donald Trump said over the weekend he was considering joining in the fight against the Iran-backed militant group. “The attack last night is very emblematic. A very advanced, sophisticated ballistic missile, very accurate, targeting a commercial airport and now a number of civilian casualties,” former White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “It’s an act of terrorism. I think there has to be a response.” A senior official of the United Arab Emirates meanwhile urged a revival of regional security arrangements. “It has become evident that we are all targets and that our security is indivisible,” Anwar Gargash, senior adviser to the UAE president, said in post on X. [caption id="attachment_57299354" align="aligncenter" width="1860"] (Courtesy/Bloomberg)[/caption] “Riyadh will want direct U.S. strikes against the Houthis, air defense capabilities, increased intelligence sharing, and political cover for an intensified campaign in Yemen,” said William Usher, a former senior Middle East analyst at the CIA. Brent crude extended gains to above $105 a barrel on Monday following the weekend strikes. Traders weighed resilient Middle East flows against rising regional tensions and a US claim that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to a so-called energy ceasefire. The Saudi civil aviation authority said one person was killed and 11 others injured after an unknown projectile hit the main airport in Riyadh late on Sunday. That followed a strike on King Khalid airport on Saturday. The attacks brought travel at the Riyadh airport to a near-standstill. It also forced the capital’s financial hub to shift to remote work until further notice and schools in the city switched to remote learning. The U.K. government warned Sunday against all but essential travel to Jeddah and Dammam, as well as to all Saudi airports except for Medina. It suggested British citizens consider departing Saudi Arabia via land to neighboring countries. The FAA on Sunday issued a warning to all U.S. airlines to exercise caution flying to or over parts of Saudi Arabia “at all altitudes.” Authorities have indicated the 25th World Petroleum Congress and associated events, scheduled to run from Sunday through Oct. 15, will go ahead. The city is also scheduled to host the Future Investment Initiative, Riyadh’s flagship investor gathering, later this month. The two events are set to draw industry heavyweights, including Wall Street titans such as Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon and BlackRock’s Larry Fink. The FII’s organizers on Sunday said they were preparing to “welcome thousands of delegates to Riyadh” for the event starting Oct. 26. “Comprehensive security measures will be in place at Riyadh’s airports, our conference venues and official hotels, with coordinated arrangements for participants’ transportation and movements,” the group’s chief executive officer, Maha Al Saud, said in a statement. The potential fallout for events and business in the kingdom comes about a week after Saudi-backed forces in Yemen launched a new offensive to retake Houthi-held areas in Yemen. The militants, who frequently claim attacks on Saudi oil facilities, had recently seized more Yemeni territory and bolstered their control over the Bab el-Mandeb, a global shipping choke-point. The Saudi-led coalition called “the cowardly terrorist attack” on the airport on Saturday “a full-fledged war crime” by the Houthis. The victims included four Saudis, a Palestinian, two Bangladeshis and one person each from the U.S., Egypt, India, Jordan, Syria and Sudan, according to authorities.

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