Houthi Attacks Kill 3 In Saudi Arabia As Yemen Fighting Gets Worse

(Houthi fighters. Photo Credit: BBC News)
Three people have been killed in attacks on two airports in Saudi Arabia over two days as fighting in Yemen spread into the kingdom.

Saudi civil aviation authorities said two people died and 28 were wounded at Abha International Airport, near the Yemen border.

One person died and eight were wounded at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

The attacks happened on October 6 and 7, but the authority did not say which airport was hit on which day.

The dead at Abha were two women, one Moroccan and one Algerian.

The person who died in Riyadh was a Sudanese man who lived in the country.

The Houthis, who are backed by Iran, say they carried out the attacks with ballistic missiles and drones.

Their military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said it was a response to Saudi aggression, with 60 air and missile strikes on Yemen in the past 24 hours.

He also said they hit Aden International Airport in Yemen on Wednesday.

The war has grown worse in recent weeks after the Houthis, who control most of the north-west, took key stretches of the Red Sea coast, including the port of Mokha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a key route for global shipping.

Pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia say they have since secured the strait and have declared all out war to take back all Houthi-held land.

The Saudi-led coalition said the airport attacks will not go unpunished and that it has hit more than 80 Houthi military sites in Saada, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf and Ma'rib.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres condemned the Houthi cross-border attacks and said he is deeply worried by the sharp rise in fighting.

Hundreds of people have reportedly died on both sides since the latest Houthi advance, and the UN says more than 200,000 people have been forced from their homes.