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Yemen's Houthi rebels announced on the 22nd that they had attacked an airport in eastern Saudi Arabia on the evening of the 21st. According to Saudi authorities, two people were killed and eight others injured in the attack.
Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, eastern province, killed one Saudi national and an Indian resident.
Civil aviation authorities have not disclosed the nature of the attack. However, the Iran-backed Houthis said on Wednesday that King Fahd International Airport was among several targets they attacked with drones and missiles in the past 48 hours.
Two other people were killed by debris from an intercepted drone in another part of the eastern province on Wednesday morning, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy said.
The ministry said the drone targeted state oil company Saudi Aramco's processing facility in the Shaybah oil field. The drone was intercepted, but the contractor's vehicle burst into flames.
The deceased were said to be Filipinos and Nepalis living in Saudi Arabia.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saleh denied that the group was responsible for the attack on the Shaybah oil fields.
In addition to the airport in Dammam, it said it also attacked the Saudi Ministry of Defense building in the capital Riyadh, a Saudi Aramco facility in the Red Sea coastal city of Yanbu, and Abha International Airport in the south.
The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen's government in its fight against the Houthis said it intercepted four drones over the eastern province on Sunday night. It also said it intercepted four drones over Riyadh and Medina provinces on the 22nd.
At least 21 people have been killed in Houthi attacks on airports since early October, according to Saudi authorities.
On the 10th, a missile landed at Riyadh's international airport, killing 13 people and injuring 308 others. It was the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in more than a decade.
Houthis retaliate against Saudi Arabian airstrikes
The Houthis on Wednesday reiterated their claims that the attack on Saudi Arabia was in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes on western Yemen, which they control. This airstrike resulted in fatalities.
Houthi-run media reported late on the 21st that at least six people had been killed and 11 others injured in airstrikes and shelling over the past 24 hours.
Houthi-run health authorities say 155 civilians have been killed since Yemen's devastating civil war escalated three months ago.
Meanwhile, the Yemeni government's Health Ministry says at least 1,574 people have been killed in fighting during the same period.
The fighting has forced more than 256,000 people from their homes.
Four years of unofficial ceasefire breaks down
In Yemen, a civil war began in 2014 when the Houthis ousted the government from Sanaa, leaving the country in ruins. The civil war escalated in 2015 when a Saudi Arabia-led Arab coalition intervened to restore government control.
In 2022, an unofficial ceasefire took effect between coalition forces and the Houthis. However, four years later, in July of this year, the Houthis announced a "maritime blockade" against Saudi Arabia. The ceasefire was broken when Saudi Arabia launched missile and drone attacks on airports and oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, as well as tankers sailing in the Red Sea.
The Houthis say the blockade is in retaliation for Saudi Arabia's blockade of ports and airports in areas they control in Yemen and the airstrike on Sana'a airport.
The conflict intensified last month when the Houthis seized control of parts of Yemen's southwestern Red Sea coast near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key maritime hub on the southern tip of the Red Sea. The Houthi advance is contributing to soaring global oil prices. Oil prices were already rising due to the six-month war between the US and Israel and Iran.
Yemeni government forces announced in early October that they had launched a major counterattack, backed by airstrikes from Saudi Arabia, and had retaken an area overlooking the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
However, fierce fighting still continues in the area. Fighting continues around the government-controlled city of Taiz, which is besieged by the Houthis, as well as in the northern provinces of Ma'arib, Jawf, Daliu and Shabwa.
(English article Two killed in Houthi attack on airport in eastern Saudi Arabia, authorities say)
