Lufthansa Group, Air India suspend Riyadh flights amid Houthi threats
Lufthansa Group airlines and Air India will suspend flights to Riyadh, they said on Thursday, as Yemen’s Houthis renewed threats against airlines after claiming an attack on the Saudi capital’s airport.
A Lufthansa spokesperson told Reuters the German group’s airlines would suspend flights to Riyadh through October 16 due to “current developments in the Middle East”. Air India said it had cancelled all flights to the Saudi capital until October 10.
Smoke was seen rising from a stationary aircraft at Riyadh airport earlier on Thursday, according to a witness and three people briefed on the matter.
The Houthis said they had struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile.
Earlier, Houthis escalated their campaign of strikes against Saudi Arabia, trying to shut down the kingdom’s airspace and oil facilities with missile fire that has killed three people this week.
The group said it had struck Riyadh airport, where witnesses saw smoke billowing from a plane, and it warned workers to stay away from energy plants. Saudi officials said debris from an intercepted missile had hit a kindergarten and medical complex.
The Houthis say they are targeting the kingdom over its support for government forces in Yemen’s reignited civil war.
Saudi Arabia says it is backing an offensive by Yemen’s UN-recognised government to take back territory from the Houthis.
The conflict, now an overspill of the US-Iran war, has added new chaos to a region already aflame, and threatens to draw other states into gruelling mountain fighting – with Syria now considering deploying troops to assist Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom has pushed for support from allied nations, including Turkiye and Pakistan, even if only in a logistical or defensive capacity, as it tries to reverse Houthi gains in southwest Yemen, by the southern entrance to the Red Sea.
Those requests have taken on more urgency since Saudi authorities said on Wednesday that three people had been killed this week in strikes on Riyadh airport and Abha airport in the southwest.