A Yemeni government spokesman has urged airlines to stay away from Saudi airports to protect passengers and crews, warning that the kingdom’s airspace and airports, except those over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, have become part of Yemen’s military operations.

Omar al-Bukhaiti said on Thursday that the warning came as attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh disrupted air traffic, prompting several international airlines to suspend flights to the Saudi capital.

The Yemeni Armed Forces said they had targeted King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with two cruise missiles and one ballistic missile, Najran Airport with one ballistic missile, and Khamis Mushait Air Base with one ballistic missile on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said three Saudi nationals were killed and several others injured in two attacks on the airport on Thursday.

In a statement on X on Friday, the authority said the first attack targeted airport facilities, while the second struck an aircraft belonging to Saudi state carrier Saudia. The injuries ranged from minor to severe, and the attacks caused material damage.

The authority claimed airport operations had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal.

However, reports indicated that the disruption had affected several Saudi airports, with widespread cancellations and delays.

Flight disruptions across Saudi Arabia

According to aviation analytics company Cirium, cited by Bloomberg, around 300 scheduled flights to and from Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport were cancelled on Thursday.

Another report put the number of cancellations at 326, with 192 flights delayed. At Jeddah airport, 96 flights were cancelled and 199 delayed, while Dammam airport recorded 23 cancellations and 71 delays.

The three airports were among the most disrupted worldwide, with Riyadh suffering the greatest impact.

Official notices to pilots indicated that parking areas and runways at King Khalid International Airport had been closed.

Reuters reported that Germany’s Lufthansa and India’s Air India suspended flights to and from Riyadh until October 10 and October 16, respectively. Philippine Airlines also announced cancellations to the Saudi capital, while two other Indian airlines suspended their Riyadh services.

A witness and three sources familiar with the incident told Reuters that smoke was seen rising from a parked aircraft at Riyadh airport on Thursday. The three sources said the aircraft was believed to have been empty at the time.

Yemeni official condemns attacks on civilians

Al-Bukhaiti also condemned Saudi Arabia’s continuing crimes against the Yemeni people, citing attacks on passengers travelling along roads in the provinces of Ta’izz and Ibb.

Speaking to Yemen’s official Saba news agency, he said a Saudi attack on passengers along the Sharjeb–Al-Turbah road in Taiz had killed and wounded members of an eight-person family, including women and children.

He also condemned an attack on passengers on the Al-Siyani road in Ibb province, saying it had left three people injured.

Al-Bukhaiti stressed that these crimes would not be erased by the passage of time, describing them as evidence of Saudi Arabia’s approach to targeting civilians and violating human dignity.

He said the attacks had taken place around the 10th anniversary of one of Saudi Arabia’s major crimes in Yemen. In 2016, he said, a Saudi bombing of a mourning hall packed with civilians from the al-Ruwaishan family in Sana’a left more than 1,000 people dead or wounded.

The spokesman said Saudi Arabia’s record over 12 years of war and blockade against Yemen was filled with grave crimes against the country’s people.

He called on governments that Saudi Arabia was seeking to draw into the war against Yemen not to become partners in the shedding of Yemeni blood. He added that those countries were themselves targets of the Israeli regime and that Saudi Arabia benefited from weakening them in pursuit of Israel’s regional project to establish the so-called “Greater Israel.”

Al-Bukhaiti also called on employees at Saudi oil facilities to evacuate areas designated as targets by Yemen’s armed forces to protect their lives.

He further warned that Saudi Arabia’s opening of a war front in the Bab al-Mandeb region and turning it into a scene of direct and widespread confrontation threatened maritime navigation. He said Riyadh would bear responsibility for all the consequences.

Reports of strikes on Saudi energy facilities

Separate reports citing satellite imagery pointed to fires and damage at several Saudi energy facilities.

Images from NASA’s VIIRS system reportedly detected unusually intense heat signals across infrastructure at Saudi Aramco facilities in Abqaiq, in the Eastern Province. Thick smoke was visible from around 6 a.m. on Thursday, according to imagery also published by Zoom Earth.

The images reportedly showed several large gas fires at the East–West Pipeline pumping station and the Abqaiq refinery and pumping station, with associated capacity at both sites exceeding 60 megawatts. Satellite imagery also showed thick smoke rising from Aramco’s Abqaiq oil-processing facility.

Infrared satellite images captured two flames amid the smoke at the oil facility, one at its eastern end and another farther away.

Images released on Thursday also showed continuing fires and smoke at the Khurais oil field in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

Other satellite images appeared to show further damage at Saudi Aramco facilities south of Riyadh, including possible damage to a fuel storage tank and a dark spot that could indicate an oil leak.

Fighting reported near Bab al-Mandeb

Meanwhile, a military source told Saba on Friday that Yemen’s armed forces had repelled an attack and military deployment by Saudi-backed militias advancing from Lahij province toward the southern part of the Bab al-Mandeb region.

The source reported heavy casualties among the Saudi-backed fighters, with dozens killed or wounded, and said several military vehicles belonging to the attacking forces had been burned or destroyed.

Separately, Yemeni sources reported several explosions in Sana’a following Saudi airstrikes. Saba said Saudi warplanes struck a foam-manufacturing factory in the Shamlan area in the northwest of the capital.

Al-Masirah television reported that a mosque and several residential houses were severely damaged in the attack.

Saudi warplanes also bombed the Sama al-Nahda factory, which manufactures construction materials and electrical equipment, in the al-Jumana area north of Sana’a.

The current escalation follows a July 20 declaration by the Sana'a administration, which imposed a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in response to the nearly 12-year siege on Yemen.

In recent weeks, the Yemeni military has announced several successful naval operations targeting ships linked to Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, enforcing the blockade and impacting Riyadh's energy exports.

The Yemeni forces have also made a lightning advance across Yemen’s coastal plain over the last month, reinforcing control over the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

The conflict traces back to March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and a US-backed coalition launched a sweeping military campaign and blockade aimed at reinstalling a favorable regime in Sana'a.

Despite years of bombardment and the deployment of advanced Western weaponry, the Saudi coalition has failed to achieve its stated objectives.

Meanwhile, the Yemeni military is advancing toward the complete liberation of Ta’izz.