The US strongly condemned Houthi attacks on civilian infrastructure and airports in Saudi Arabia on Friday, calling on Iran to end its support for the Yemeni group. "The United States is gravely concerned by the continued escalation by the terrorist Houthis," US deputy envoy to the UN Jeff Bartos told a Security Council meeting. Bartos cited recent Houthi missile strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh as an example of the threat posed by the group. He accused the Houthis of acting as "instruments" of Tehran, saying their activities undermined regional stability, threatened maritime navigation and “terrorised” civilians. 🔴 BREAKING: US envoy at UN Security Council meeting on Yemen - Houthis must stop their attacks on Yemen and Saudi Arabia; we stand in solidarity with Yemen and Kingdom following Houthi attacks https://t.co/2bLWE9JoS6 pic.twitter.com/8J0ye4EmDi — Arab News (@arabnews) October 9, 2026 "We demand that the Houthis cease their attacks against the legitimate governments of Yemen and Saudi Arabia, and we demand that Iran cease all support to the Houthis," Bartos said. "In the face of the Houthi threat, the United States stands firmly with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the government of Yemen as they defend their sovereignty and work to restore stability," he added. Bartos reaffirmed Washington's commitment to working with regional and international partners to counter the Houthi threat, protect navigational rights and freedoms, and promote long-term stability across the region. Houthi strikes on Riyadh airport killed three Saudis as war escalates Thursday's attacks on Riyadh airport killed three people, Saudi authorities said on Friday, as Yemen's Houthi group stepped up missile strikes on the kingdom and tried to shut down its airspace in an escalating war triggered by the US-Iran conflict. The strikes, which also injured several people, damaged a Saudia Airlines plane and sent smoke billowing over the airport, led many airlines to cancel flights to the Saudi capital days before it is due to host a major meeting of global oil chiefs. #Statement Two attacks targeted King Khalid International Airport facilities and a Saudia aircraft.#GACA pic.twitter.com/6YnBN717Cw — هيئة الطيران المدني (@ksagaca) October 9, 2026 Saudi airstrikes hit Houthi targets in the Yemeni capital Sanaa overnight, Houthi officials and affiliated media said, part of an intensifying air war against the Iran-allied group aimed at reversing its recent territorial gains, threats to international shipping, and attacks on the kingdom. A Saudi-led coalition backing government forces in Yemen said it had destroyed three missile launch platforms used by the Houthis. It warned it would respond firmly to attacks on civilians. Read: PIA temporarily suspends flight operations to Riyadh, cites Middle East conflict The Houthis, who have encircled Yemeni government forces in Yemen's third-largest city of Taiz and are trying to defend positions on the Red Sea coast against a Saudi-backed offensive, had already killed three people with strikes on airports in the kingdom earlier this week. The Saudi civil aviation authority said air traffic at Riyadh airport had returned to normal, and flight-tracking site flightradar24 showed a gradual resumption of flights, including from some Middle Eastern airlines. Saudia Airlines said one of those killed on Thursday was one of its employees. Bitter fighting inside Yemen Yemen's civil war has rapidly emerged as the fiercest front in a wider regional conflagration triggered by the US and Israeli attack on Iran that started on February 28. The conflict is critical for global energy markets, with the Houthis firing on shipping in the Red Sea and its southern gateway, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, further squeezing Gulf oil supplies with Iran partly blocking the Strait of Hormuz. Last month the Houthis staged a lightning advance down Yemen's Red Sea coast to take full control over the coastline around the strait, prompting Saudi Arabia to re-enter the long-dormant conflict and back a government counteroffensive. Read more: Information ministry rubbishes 'fake and fabricated' NYT report claiming use of PAF aircraft against Houthis On Monday, government forces took back territory around the Bab el-Mandeb coastline after intense Saudi airstrikes and fighting continued there. However, Houthi forces have also managed to cut off a key road connecting Taiz, a city of more than half a million people with a garrison of thousands of pro-government fighters, with advances in mountain districts. The group has announced repeated rounds of ballistic missile fire at Saudi Arabia, proclaiming it would shut down Saudi airspace and warning workers at oil facilities that it would strike those too. Saudi Arabia is seeking assistance from Pakistan and Turkey, its partners in a mutual defence pact, to help ward off Houthi attacks, and has pushed for wider help from allies to aid it in reversing the group's gains inside Yemen. Bab el-Mandeb 'cleared of Houthi remnants,' Saudi envoy to Yemen says Saudi Ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber, said on Friday that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has been "cleared" of the Houthi group. "Blessed Friday, and victory for every Yemeni and Arab. Bab al-Mandeb has been cleared of the remnants of the Houthi terrorist militia," Al Jaber said in a post on US social media company X, without providing further details. Bab al-Mandab has been cleared of Houthi militia - Saudi ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed Al Jaber pic.twitter.com/N4sFkTw7rb — TRT World (@trtworld) October 9, 2026 The Houthis did not immediately comment on the ambassador's statement. Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in March 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government. The military escalation that began in July has marked the most extensive fighting in Yemen since the relative calm that followed a UN-brokered truce in 2022. As clashes intensified in September, the Houthis seized several key areas in Hudaydah and Taiz provinces and advanced as far as Mayyun Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. Government forces launched Operation Dawn of Yemen this week to retake Houthi-held territory. Saudi-led coalition in Yemen says it destroyed 3 Houthi missile launch platforms The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said on Friday that it destroyed three missile launch platforms "used by the Houthi group to threaten regional security." "Houthi attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure will be met with a firm response," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki wrote on X. Colonel Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised gov't, says his forces have destroyed three rocket-launch platforms used by the Houthis “to threaten regional security.” 🔴 LIVE updates: https://t.co/gZ4fFP1inU pic.twitter.com/TVs76QeaTv — Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 9, 2026 Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa and several provinces in 2014, prompting a Saudi-led coalition to intervene in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government. After a period of relative calm following the 2022 truce, the fighting resumed in July and spilt over into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, with the Houthis launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi territory. This week, government forces announced the launch of the Dawn of Yemen operation to retake all territory held by the group. Houthis say Saudi attacked Yemeni capital of Sanaa, as well as Taiz and Hajjah Yemen's Houthi group on Friday said a Saudi aircraft carried out airstrikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and the flashpoint provinces of Taiz and Hajjah. The Houthi-run Saba news agency said the aircraft targeted Houthi-controlled Sanaa. In a separate report, the agency quoted an unnamed local source as saying that the aircraft also targeted Haradh district in the western Hajjah province with two airstrikes. Another series of airstrikes targeted the areas of Al-Zukaira, Al-Masahin and Al-Zaazea in Al-Shamayatayn district of Taiz province, it added. The attacks were carried out on Thursday and Friday. There was no immediate comment from Saudi officials or Yemen’s internationally recognised government on the reports.