The Syrian woman was a widowed mother of four who had been living in Saudi Arabia for five years, a relative told The Associated Press. The Syrian Embassy identified her as Buthaina Ahmad Oweida. Her niece, Nisreen Oweida, said she had left during Syria’s civil war. She was living in Mecca and had been returning from a visit to her sister in Riyadh when she was killed.
The Houthis claimed attacks earlier in the week on King Khalid International Airport that killed three Saudis, including a pilot, and a Sudanese national. The airport has no military facilities.
Iran can use the Houthis to pressure a key US ally
Until recently, the Houthis had been largely on the sidelines of the Iran war. Now, the rebels are helping Iran to pressure a key US ally.
The Saudis and the Houthis began fighting in 2015, when the kingdom entered Yemen’s civil war on behalf of the internationally recognised government.
Relative calm after a 2022 ceasefire ended in July, when the Houthis resumed attacks, saying the Saudis fired on the Sanaa airport as a plane from Iran was trying to land. That revived anger over the Saudi-led blockade that has largely isolated Houthi-run areas.
Now, fighting has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for Yemeni government forces attempting to reverse recent Houthi gains along the Red Sea. Those gains gave the rebels better surveillance of shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb, a corridor that is a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.
But Ahmed Nagi, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for Yemen, said the Houthi pressure tactics could backfire. “Rather than pushing Riyadh to step back, attacks on critical Saudi infrastructure could make the Saudis more determined to continue the campaign,” he said. (AP)
