Thursday's attacks on Riyadh airport killed three people, Saudi authorities said, as Yemen's Houthi militia continues to attack the kingdom’s civilian infrastructure and attempts to shut down its airspace.
The strikes, which also wounded several people, damaged a Saudia Airlines plane and sent smoke billowing over the airport, leading many airlines to cancel flights to the Saudi capital days before it is due to host a major meeting of global oil chiefs.
Saudi air strikes hit Houthi militia targets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa overnight, Houthi officials and affiliated media confirmed on Friday, as part of an operation to neutralise threats to international shipping and attacks on the kingdom.
Yemen government forces said it had destroyed three missile launch platforms used by the Houthi militia. It warned it would respond firmly to attacks on civilians.
Yemeni government forces are also battling Houthi militia in Yemen's third-largest city of Taiz. They are trying to neutralise Houthi militia positions on the Red Sea coast that pose a threat to international shipping and navigation.
Houthi threats
Houthi militia spokesperson Yahya Saree, on Thursday, threatened experts, engineers and other workers at Saudi oil facilities against remaining at locations the militia considers "targets".
Saree also renewed the militia's threats to airlines, airport workers and passengers regarding airspace and airports that the group had previously declared "subject to their military operations".
Confrontations between Yemeni government forces and the Houthi militia have escalated since early July following years of relative calm.
The country has been engulfed in war since the Houthi militia seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in 2014, before a Saudi-led Arab coalition intervened in 2015 in support of Yemen's internationally recognised government.
The Houthi militia has been engaged in renewed fighting with Yemeni government forces since Yemen's civil war reignited in July, when the group declared a maritime blockade on Riyadh and began targeting Saudi ships in the Red Sea.
The Houthi militia seized control of Yemen's Red Sea coast and the Bab al Mandab Strait last month.
Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen said in a social media post on Friday that Bab al Mandab had been cleared of Houthis.
The Houthi militia has announced repeated rounds of ballistic missile fire at Saudi Arabia, proclaiming it would shut down Saudi airspace.
Air traffic
The Saudi civil aviation authority said air traffic at Riyadh airport had returned to normal, and the flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed a gradual resumption of flights, including from some Middle Eastern airlines.
Saudia Airlines said one of those killed on Thursday was an employee of theirs.
While some regional airlines were still operating flights through Riyadh, many others were still suspended, and Flightradar24 showed many cancellations and delays.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency said it was extending the area in which it advised airlines not to fly, citing the recent attacks on Riyadh airport and risks to civil aviation.
The US embassy in the United Arab Emirates meanwhile warned Americans to exercise increased vigilance, citing Houthi militia attacks on civilian targets in Saudi Arabia and saying the hostilities could rapidly escalate.
Riyadh is due to host the WPC Energy Congress, a major meeting of oil ministers, other government officials and oil company executives, from Sunday.
Italian energy minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin said he would not attend in person but would take part via video, without mentioning the reason for his decision.
