Houthis Hit Four Saudi Airports in 48 Hours, Saudi Aviation Authority Confirms Three Wounded

Since Turkey and Pakistan agreed Monday, October 5, to move forward on rapid troop deployment to Saudi Arabia, and Yemeni government forces claimed they had retaken ground near Mocha and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the Houthis have widened their response from the battlefield to Saudi airports.

Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) confirmed Tuesday that strikes a day earlier damaged King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Airport in Jazan and Najran International Airport, wounding three people, according to Gulf News and Yeni Şafak. GACA said the injuries were minor and the wounded were hospitalized, with emergency teams responding under established procedures while officials assess facility damage.

The Houthis claim far more. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said Tuesday the group also struck Abha International Airport in Asir province, calling the missile strike "precise and direct" and claiming it disrupted air traffic there, according to ZeroHedge. The Houthis additionally claimed hits on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and an Aramco refinery in Rabigh, per Minute Mirror and Channel NewsAsia. Saudi authorities have not officially confirmed strikes on Abha, Riyadh's airport, or the Rabigh refinery. An explosion was also reported in northern Riyadh on Tuesday, with residents describing a loud blast, according to Minute Mirror, though details on that incident remain unclear.

The Houthis followed up with a direct threat to commercial aviation. "We reiterate our warning to all international airlines regarding the consequences of continuing to operate flights within Saudi airspace," the group said in a statement carried by ZeroHedge, specifically exempting the airspace over Mecca and Medina. Separately, the Houthi-run Humanitarian Operations Coordination Center warned airlines that flying in Saudi airspace is "unsafe" as long as what it called Saudi "aggression" continues, according to CNN.

The ground war behind the airport strikes

The airport attacks are retaliation, by the Houthis' own account, for the Saudi-backed offensive now underway in Yemen. Yemeni military spokesman Majid al-Nuzaili said government forces have "succeeded in controlling Bab al-Mandeb" and retaken the road linking Dhubab district to the port town of Mocha, CNN reported. Channel NewsAsia reported the Saudi-led coalition said it expelled Houthi forces from the Bab el-Mandeb area, including Mocha, Dhubab airport and the Al-Omari military camp, with 100 coalition warplanes flying sorties at dawn Monday and the Yemeni military claiming more than 1,000 strikes as part of an offensive on Sanaa.

None of those territorial claims have been independently verified. CNN flagged explicitly that it has not confirmed the government's claim of controlling Bab al-Mandeb, and Channel NewsAsia reported that military sources stopped short of formally announcing Mocha's recapture, saying only that the only supply route into the port has been cut off. The Houthi-run Saba News Agency called the reported government gains "fictitious," an attempt to "cover up repeated failures and defeats."

Yemeni analyst Fatima Alasrar wrote on X that the offensive marks a turning point regardless of the fog around specific claims. "The Houthi coastal momentum is broken," she said, adding that territory the group seized in September "is beginning to unravel."

Regional reaction and the stakes for oil

Jordan and the Gulf Cooperation Council condemned the Houthi strikes. Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi spoke with Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan to reaffirm Amman's solidarity and condemned what he described as attempts to threaten Mecca and Medina, according to Minute Mirror. GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi called the airport strikes a "serious escalation" that threatens civilians and air traffic.

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia warned American citizens Monday of potential drone and missile attacks, CNN reported. The fighting has already displaced more than 184,000 people, according to United Nations figures cited by Channel NewsAsia, in what it called the most active front in the Middle East in recent weeks.

CNN noted the strategic stakes bluntly: the Red Sea route through Bab al-Mandeb has become an increasingly important alternative export channel since fighting disrupted traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, and continued Houthi attacks on Saudi exports threaten to push oil prices higher weeks before the US midterm elections.

What happens next hinges on whether the Saudi-led coalition's claimed gains around Mocha hold, and whether the Houthis follow through on their threat to treat Saudi civilian airspace as an active war zone. Neither claim has independent confirmation as of Tuesday, October 6.