Bangla Press Desk: Missile and drone attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels from Yemen have caused major disruption to air travel in Saudi Arabia, with more than 4,000 flights already cancelled in the country.
However, Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has recently resumed operations.
According to Al Jazeera, the skies over the Saudi capital, Riyadh, have become largely empty due to ballistic missile and drone attacks by the Houthi rebels. Aviation data analytics firm Cirium reported that a significant number of scheduled flights at King Khalid International Airport have been cancelled as a result of these attacks.
Latest data from Cirium indicates that between October 8 and October 25, 4,071 out of 4,736 scheduled flights at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport were cancelled.
This means that approximately 86 percent of all scheduled flights during this period did not take place.
The Houthis have intensified their attacks on Saudi Arabia this month, targeting various civilian facilities, including airports, seaports, and oil installations.
Al Jazeera notes that King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh is the second-busiest airport in Saudi Arabia, following Jeddah’s airport.
The airport has been targeted multiple times this month; an attack on October 10 resulted in 13 deaths.
This was the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in over a decade. Following the assault, the airport’s operations were suspended on October 10, but Saudi authorities resumed limited operations on Sunday (October 25).
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