The United States Embassy in Riyadh said Monday, 12 October, that Americans have been taken into custody in Saudi Arabia for photographing the aftermath of recent Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi airports, a sign of how tightly the kingdom is trying to control images of a widening Houthi campaign against its cities and airports.
In a statement, the embassy announced that Americans had been held over pictures of recent events but gave no figure for how many had been detained. It cited a warning from Saudi officials that filming, publishing or sharing material about missile and drone interceptions, or the places where debris and munitions land, could carry legal consequences.
The embassy also said American government employees in the country now need its special permission before using any Saudi airport, and it urged private citizens to use “extreme caution” if they fly in or out of the kingdom.
The warnings follow a run of strikes on aviation hubs by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement of Yemen. At least 18 people have died at Riyadh’s international airport, 13 of them in an attack on Saturday, 10 October, and hundreds have been wounded. A separate strike on Abha International Airport, in the south, killed two people last Tuesday, 6 October.
Additionally, the Houthis vowed Wednesday, 14 October, to keep attacking Saudi airports and oil facilities, a day after a strike that sources say set fire to several floors of Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, though the Saudi energy ministry described the blaze as limited. Riyadh’s airport, which has been hit four times, is closed until 17 October, and airlines have canceled flights to the kingdom.
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