Houthis issue new threat to Saudi airspace

Yemen's Houthis issued a new threat to Saudi Arabia's airspace on Sunday after an attack on the kingdom's international airport in Riyadh killed 12 people and wounded hundreds. Saturday's attack, the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade, was a sharp escalation in the Yemen war, where Riyadh backs the internationally recognised government against the Houthis, who captured swathes of Red Sea coastline in a lightning offensive last month. While the Houthis stopped short of claiming the strike, they threatened new attacks on the kingdom's airports, except for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, warning passengers not to travel. "The airports and airspace are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces," military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X. The strike came in a week when the group intensified its attacks on the Saudi capital's King Khalid International Airport, where three people were also killed on Thursday, as well as other key targets in the world's largest crude oil exporter. A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen attributed Saturday's attack to the Iran-backed group, calling it a "full-fledged war crime". A diplomatic source also attributed the strike to a Houthi missile. The coalition vowed to respond,...