Saudi Arabia’s energy minister has vowed a “serious” response to the deadly attacks on the kingdom’s airports and oil and gas facilities by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement.
“The events of recent weeks are serious. Our response must be equally serious,” Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman told the WPC Energy Congress in Riyadh.
On Sunday, a Pakistani man was killed in an attack on a terminal at the capital’s King Khalid International Airport, Saudi authorities said. It came a day after a Houthi missile hit another terminal, killing 13 people and forcing its closure.
The Houthis said they launched the attacks in retaliation for “brutal Saudi aggression” against areas they control in western Yemen.
The Houthi-run health ministry said a child was killed and six other people were injured in a Saudi air strike on a home in the capital, Sanaa, on Sunday.
A Saudi-led coalition is providing air support for Yemeni pro-government forces battling the Houthis on Yemen’s Red Sea coast and other areas.
The WPC Energy Congress opened on Sunday at a convention centre about 10km (6 miles) from Riyadh’s airport, which has been attacked four times over the past week.
Last Thursday, three Saudis, including a pilot for the national airline Saudia, were killed in two strikes on an airport facility and an aircraft on the ground.
Another four Saudis, as well as two Bangladeshis, one American, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian, one Sudanese and one Indian, were killed in Saturday’s missile strike on Terminal 3.
On Sunday, a Pakistani resident was killed when a projectile hit Terminal 4, according to the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).
King Fahd International Airport in the north-eastern city of Dammam was also attacked on Sunday evening, it said, but no casualties were reported.
Credit: bbc.com
