Houthis say they targeted King Khalid Airport and East-West pipeline pumping stations
The Houthis said they struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile and pumping stations on the East-West oil pipeline with drones, without Saudi confirmation, a day after the airport partially resumed operations.
The Houthis said on Monday, Oct. 26, that they targeted King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh with a ballistic missile, and struck crude oil pumping stations on the East-West pipeline with several drones — two attacks that Saudi authorities did not confirm.
What the Houthis said
The Houthis' military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said the group targeted the airport with a ballistic missile and carried out drone attacks on pumping stations along the East-West pipeline, claiming the strikes were precise. The statement came after Saudi Civil Defense issued an early-morning warning of a possible danger in Riyadh before saying it had passed, while the Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile launched toward the capital.
The airport a day after flights resumed
The announcement comes a day after King Khalid International Airport resumed part of its operations in two terminals: the first designated for domestic flights and the second for international flights operated by national carriers. This was the first resumption since an Oct. 10 attack that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. The Houthis had warned airlines and passengers not to use the airport.
The East-West pipeline
The East-West pipeline, operated by Saudi Aramco, runs about 1,200 kilometres from the Buqayq area in the kingdom's east to Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. It is a major route for transporting crude oil to export ports on the Red Sea, away from the Strait of Hormuz.
