Flames and a column of black smoke were spotted Saturday near King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. This was reported by some residents of the Saudi capital, quoted by the France Presse agency. “We saw black smoke and flames towards the airport,” said one of the witnesses.
The report was also relaunched by Jerusalem Post on its profile At the moment it is not yet completely clear what caused the fire, nor is there official information available on any damage or victims, although the most popular hypothesis is that of an attack by Yemeni rebels, the Houthis, who are intensifying attacks within Saudi Arabia.
According to the agency France Press, the smoke that has been rising from the vicinity of Riyadh airport for several hours was apparently caused by a fire in an Aramco fuel tank located at the Saudi airport. Firefighters were seen trying to put out the flames coming out of the tank, which bears the logo of the Saudi national company.
The repercussions on air traffic and the Houthi attacks
Serious repercussions have been recorded on air traffic. The specialized portal Flightradar24 has reported “serious problems” at Riyadh airport, with canceled flights and numerous delayed connections. The Iranian agency ISNA also reported “several explosions” that occurred near King Khalid international airport.
What happened comes at the end of a night of high tension in the Saudi capital. Between Friday and Saturday the Saudi Arabian authorities had in fact issued an alert for the first time for the risk of attacks against Riyadh since the resumption of hostilities with the Houthis of Yemen. Shortly afterwards, loud explosions were heard in several parts of the city.
It has not yet been clarified whether the explosions heard during the night and the flames that subsequently appeared in the airport area are directly connected. However, the Houthis confirmed the attacks. launched attacks on “sensitive sites” in Riyadh and oil facilities in the port city of Yanbu, Saudi Arabia.
“In response to the Saudi enemy’s criminal attempts to strike the capital Sana’a, the Yemeni armed forces conducted two successful military operations, employing a large number of ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones,” Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said in a statement on Telegram. “The first operation targeted sensitive sites in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, while the second hit Aramco plants in Yanbu,” added the same source.
The message from the Houthis: “We are not at war against Italy, but we wonder what you are doing here”
And the message from the Houthis also arrives, after the attack against an Italian Eurofighter in a Saudi base yesterday, Friday 18 September: “Ours is a legitimate armed resistance in the face of prolonged Saudi aggression. We are not at war with Italy and we do not intend to involve your country. But we ask ourselves what the Italian planes are doing in Saudi Arabia in support of Riyadh’s war against us”.
He declared this to theHandle Muhammad Mansur, an official from the Houthi government’s information ministry in Sanaa, was asked about the attack on the Taif air base in Saudi Arabia, in which an Italian military aircraft was hit yesterday.