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The Saudi-led military coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces launched a sweeping retaliatory operation overnight, striking 82 military targets across four Yemeni provinces after Houthi attacks on two Saudi international airports killed three civilians and wounded 36 others earlier in the week.

The attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and Abha International Airport in southern Saudi Arabia were the deadliest Houthi strikes on Saudi soil since the kingdom began its own bombing of Houthi positions earlier this year.

Three foreigners killed, 36 hurt in strikes on two Saudi airports

According to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), the attacks came on Tuesday and Wednesday. At Abha, a Moroccan woman and an Algerian woman who lived in the kingdom were killed, and 28 other people were hurt. At King Khalid, a Sudanese citizen died and eight residents were wounded, among them five Saudis. GACA said it is working with security agencies to assess the damage and protect passengers and workers.

On Thursday, the Houthis said they had struck King Khalid again with a ballistic missile, Reuters reported, but Saudi Arabia did not immediately confirm the claim. Around the same time, a New York Times reporter in Riyadh heard several blasts in quick succession, though their cause was unclear. Saudi authorities have recently warned residents of legal consequences for sharing information about missile and drone attacks.

Coalition spokesman announces strikes on missile depots and command centers

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki Al-Maliki announced the strikes with a dramatic warning, declaring that “the brutal attacks by the Terrorist Houthi Militia on civilian and civilian objects in the Kingdom… will not go unpunished.” He said coalition forces destroyed 82 targets he described as legitimate military objectives in Saada, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf and Ma’rib.

Among the targets were 11 missile storage sites and several command and communication hubs, the statement said. Al-Maliki also said forces shot down a missile north of Riyadh and wrecked a Sanaa launch site that he said had been used to strike the Saudi capital. The Houthis did not immediately respond to the coalition’s claims.

Nearly 200,000 Yemenis displaced as the 2022 truce gives way to open war

The United Nations said Wednesday that the escalating violence has forced nearly 200,000 Yemenis from their homes since September. The kingdom has been here before. Its air war that began in 2015, meant to return Yemen’s ousted government to Sanaa, set off a conflict that lasted years, led to hundreds of thousands of deaths and produced one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises before a shaky truce took hold in 2022.

Now, Yemen’s internationally recognized government, backed by Saudi warplanes, has launched a military offensive to retake Red Sea territory from the Houthis, who hold a broad swath of land along the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a vital sea lane between the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

The Riyadh airport has been a target before. Coalition forces said they shot down a suspected Houthi ballistic missile aimed at it on Sept. 18, and the next day an explosion was heard nearby as black smoke rose from a fuel storage area. This week, cage-like fencing also went up around Aramco fuel tanks and equipment near the airport.

The United States embassy in Riyadh has issued another security alert urging Americans in the kingdom to stay especially vigilant amid the fighting. That warning is a reminder that a conflict half a world away is no longer abstract. Saudi Arabia’s last air war was meant to restore a government and instead set off a conflict that left hundreds of thousands dead. With a new offensive underway and foreign residents already among the casualties, Washington would be wise to think hard before being drawn into a second round.

Sources for this article include:

SputnikGlobe.com

AlJazeera.com

Reuters.com

NYTimes.com