Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels said Thursday that they had launched attacks against Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry in Riyadh, Saudi Aramco oil facilities in the Red Sea port city of Yanbu and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, where Saudi authorities confirmed two people were killed and eight others injured in an attack Wednesday evening.
The claims mark another escalation in the Houthis' campaign against Saudi military, aviation and energy infrastructure, as fighting intensifies between the group and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels
(Photo: AP/ Osamah Abdulrahman)
Saudi authorities had not immediately confirmed attacks on the Defense Ministry in Riyadh or Aramco facilities in Yanbu, and there was no independent verification that either site had been hit.
The kingdom has, however, confirmed the deadly attack on Dammam airport, although its civil aviation authority did not specify the weapon used or identify those responsible in its initial statements.
The Houthi announcement comes after a series of deadly strikes against Saudi airports and oil facilities in recent weeks, prompting Washington to withdraw some government personnel from the kingdom and Britain to announce additional military assistance.
Two killed at Dammam airport, two more at Saudi oil field
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said Thursday that the death toll from Wednesday evening's attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam had risen to two after an additional fatality was confirmed.
The victims were identified as a Saudi citizen and an Indian national living in the kingdom. Eight other people were injured, including a Saudi citizen and seven foreign nationals from India, Yemen, Bangladesh and Nepal.
The injuries ranged from minor to serious, with the wounded receiving treatment at several hospitals.
The authority said the airport had sustained material damage, but that operations had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal. Officials continued assessing the damage and coordinating security measures to protect passengers and airport employees.
The airport, located in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province near the Persian Gulf, had already been targeted during the recent escalation.
In a separate incident Wednesday, two foreign workers were killed and two others injured after Saudi air defenses intercepted a drone attempting to strike a processing facility at Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oil field.
According to the Saudi Energy Ministry, falling debris from the interception sparked a fire in a contractor's vehicle outside the facility's perimeter.
The two fatalities were a Filipino and a Nepali national, while the injured were Pakistani and Indian citizens.
The ministry said operations at the oil field were unaffected.