Saudi Arabia has reopened its main airport for international flights, more than two weeks after deadly strikes by Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels knocked the facility out of service. King Khalid International Airport announced that it has opened terminals 1 and 2 for both domestic and international flights, starting Sunday. Last week, the Riyadh airport had opened to limited domestic flights.
The airport announcement came as the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen continued to fire drones and missiles toward the Saudi capital. Earlier Sunday, Saudi military spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said air defenses intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile and a drone fired by the Houthis toward the kingdom's capital. Additionally, the military intercepted 10 ballistic missiles headed toward the southern region. In early October, previous Houthi strikes hit a complex housing two other terminals, killing 17 people and wounding over 330.
Meanwhile, Israel is pressing ahead with a broad military operation in the occupied West Bank in response to an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers and wounded three in the city of Hebron on Friday. The Israeli military announced new restrictions on Sunday, barring Palestinian laborers from jobs in Israeli settlements. The crackdown includes arrests and building demolitions in Hebron, where the municipality says some 2,200 people have been displaced. Israel has also closed several crossings in the territory.
The operation occurs just days ahead of Israel’s tense election on Tuesday, which is the first since the 2023 Hamas-led attacks and the ensuing wars in the region. The vote is widely seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s leadership and security policies. While Israel has more than 7.3 million registered voters, polling suggests a tight race. The AID Coalition, a U.S.-based nonprofit focused on strengthening Israel’s democracy, says tens of thousands of Israelis living abroad are expected to fly in for the vote, though it is unclear what effect these voters might have.
In Tehran, Iran’s foreign minister vowed on Sunday that new threats of war will not budge Iran from its policies. “Today, again war is being spoken about, but I am thinking about post-war status, whether a war occurs or not, our policies will remain in place,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a group of diplomats. He warned the U.S. against renewing strikes on Iran and repeated that Tehran is ready to cooperate with neighboring Arab nations in the Persian Gulf. “Everything has changed in our region,” he said. “After the recent war, nothing will be like the past.”
Separately, the head of one of Libya’s rival governments rejected comments by U.S. President Donald Trump, in which he added the North African nation to a list of countries he described as “terror-infested.” Writing on social media, Prime Minister Abdulhamid Dbeibah said he rejected “any affront” to his country or its people “who have made great sacrifices in the fight against terrorism.” At a campaign rally in Georgia on Saturday, Trump accused the Democrats of trying to open the United States for “armies of migrants from terror-infested countries like Libya, Yemen, Haiti, Somalia.” Libya remains divided between rival administrations following the 2011 uprising that toppled Moammar Gadhafi.
