Plane billows smoke at Riyadh airport as Houthis escalate attacks

RIYADH/DUBAI, Oct 8 (Reuters) – Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis escalated their campaign of strikes against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, trying to shut down the kingdom’s airspace and oil facilities with missile fire that has killed three people this week.

The group said it ​had struck Riyadh airport, where witnesses saw smoke billowing from a plane, and it warned workers to stay away from energy plants. Saudi officials said debris from an intercepted missile hit a kindergarten and medical complex.

Lufthansa and Air India said they were suspending flights to Riyadh after Houthi attacks. The Houthis say they are targeting the kingdom over its support for government forces in Yemen’s reignited civil war. Saudi Arabia says it is backing an offensive by Yemen’s UN-recognised government to take back territory from the Houthis. The conflict, now an overspill of the US-Iran war, has added new chaos to a region already aflame, and threatens to draw other states into gruelling mountain fighting with Syria now considering deploying ​troops to assist Saudi Arabia.