Saudi Arabia’s energy minister on Monday said the country had been tested but would mount a “serious” response after a string of attacks on Riyadh’s international airport by Yemen’s Houthis that left 18 people dead.
Lethal airport strikes since last week have rocked the world’s top oil exporter, which is pursuing an expensive economic reform drive aimed at attracting foreign investment.
Yemen’s civil war, where a Saudi-led military coalition supports the government against the Iran-backed Houthis, has reignited months into the US-Iran conflict that has roiled energy markets and plunged the Middle East into crisis.
“Energy security can’t be taken for granted,” Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman told an energy conference in Riyadh, as oil prices topped $105 a barrel.
“The events of recent weeks are serious; our response must be equally serious.”
“For Saudi Arabia, these circumstances have tested our infrastructure, our institutions, our people, and our resilience,” he added.
On Saturday, Houthi strikes killed 13 people and wounded hundreds at King Khalid International Airport – the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in more than a decade.
Four people died in earlier attacks on Wednesday and Thursday, and another was killed on Sunday. Operations remained suspended at the sprawling airport on Riyadh’s outskirts on Monday.
CCTV footage of Saturday’s attack released by Saudi authorities showed Muslim pilgrims in religious attire waiting in departure lounges before a sudden flash tore through the building and brought down flaming debris.
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