Houthi assault on Saudi airports strikes at MBS’s economic vision

{"text":[[{"start":8.96,"text":"Dozens of passengers stand in line as they prepare to board a flight to Jeddah in western Saudi Arabia, many of them pilgrims en route to Mecca. As one, dressed in simple white garb, leans to pick up his bag from the floor, the camera shakes violently and suddenly. A white flash fills the screen as debris falls from the ceiling, and people run for safety."}],[{"start":32.7,"text":"The scene, captured in dramatic CCTV footage, marks the moment of a deadly Houthi missile attack on Saturday, one of hundreds launched by the Iran-backed militant group across the kingdom since the years-long conflict reignited in July."}],[{"start":47.84,"text":"That it happened in Riyadh’s main international airport — killing 13 people and injuring over 300 — underscores the dramatic escalation of the Iran-backed rebels’ campaign, one that has now hit at the heart of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 programme to transform Saudi Arabia into a regional finance and events centre."}],[{"start":68.44,"text":"Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport is central to these ambitions, with the government planning a major expansion as it prepares to host global events including Expo 2030 and the Fifa World Cup in 2034. It also serves as the home base of Riyadh Air, a new airline backed by the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund that aims to turn the city into a transport hub competing with Dubai and Doha."}],[{"start":93.36,"text":"But the airport, which has been hit five times since Wednesday, will now be closed until at least Friday, according to a notice given to airlines. Attacks on other airports including in Dammam and the south-west, as well as disruptions in Jeddah — the largest by traffic — have forced the cancellation of thousands of more flights."}],[{"start":111.84,"text":"“There is little question that the attacks by the Houthis on Saudi airports . . . were designed to damage the kingdom’s global standing while crippling an essential part of Vision 2030,” said Sean Foley, professor of Middle East history at Middle Tennessee State University."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":126.96,"text":"They have come during a busy period in Saudi Arabia’s business calendar. The kingdom is preparing to host later this month the Future Investment Initiative event, its flagship economic conference that typically attracts Wall Street executives, global investors and bankers, while the World Petroleum Council’s energy congress began on Sunday in Riyadh."}],[{"start":146.84,"text":"The chief executives of ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Shell and BP were all expected to attend the WPC congress but withdrew following the Houthi attacks, the FT reported on Sunday."}],[{"start":157.52,"text":"Other events were also affected. The organisers of Misk Global Forum — an annual conference organised by an NGO affiliated with the crown prince — said on Monday they were cancelling their event scheduled for next month."}],[{"start":169.4,"text":"A private equity firm also cancelled a planned investor day this week in Riyadh after losing most of its speakers. “Even the ones in Saudi have to attend to bigger problems,” the firm’s chief executive said."}],[{"start":180.88,"text":"Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, struck a defiant tone at the WPC congress on Monday, telling the audience — which included fewer attendees in western-style clothing than would ordinarily be expected at such an event — that “the word fear in the Saudi dictionary does not exist”."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":198.68,"text":"But with Riyadh’s airport closed for days, many of the energy officials and other business executives currently in the capital could be forced to take a land route to neighbouring Gulf states such as Bahrain or Qatar to catch flights back home."}],[{"start":211.8,"text":"And experts say the repeated failure of Saudi air defences to protect airports risks doing longer-term damage to the kingdom’s image and its ability to attract foreign investors and tourists, both vital for the success of the crown prince’s economic plans."}],[{"start":226.16,"text":"Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House, said the targeting of airports was designed to inflict maximum damage on the kingdom’s economic infrastructure and reputation."}],[{"start":235.72,"text":"“This is a huge part of the Houthis’ calculation,” he said. “Saudi Arabia has something to lose and they do not. It is the economy where they feel they can cause the most harm.”"}],[{"start":246.48,"text":"The conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis first began more than a decade ago, after the kingdom intervened in Yemen’s civil war to restore the internationally recognised government against the Iran-backed militants."}],[{"start":257.84,"text":"The intervention came just months before Prince Mohammed unveiled his plan to transform the Saudi economy by diversifying away from oil revenues, removing some social restrictions in the conservative kingdom and developing new sectors such as tourism, logistics and technology."}],[{"start":272.28,"text":"Riyadh soon became bogged down in a hugely costly campaign in Yemen, before a fragile truce with the Houthis in 2022 seemed to provide the regional stability needed for the kingdom to forge ahead with Prince Mohammed’s plans."}],[{"start":287.94,"text":"But while Saudi Arabia was less hard hit than some neighbours like the United Arab Emirates by Iranian attacks following the start of the US and Israeli war against Tehran earlier this year, the truce with the Houthis ultimately collapsed over the summer."}],[{"start":303.04,"text":"The rebels declared a maritime blockade against Saudi ships passing through strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait, which had become a vital outlet for Saudi oil after the US-Iran war in effect closed the Strait of Hormuz."}],[{"start":316.84,"text":"They also fired waves of missiles and drones at energy facilities in Saudi Arabia’s southern provinces, threatening the kingdom’s export revenues and roiling global energy markets."}],[{"start":328.04,"text":"After the Saudi-backed Yemeni government this month announced a new offensive against the Houthis, the group responded by escalating its targeting of Saudi airports, first in the kingdom’s south-west and then Riyadh itself."}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":341.36,"text":"An adviser to the Saudi government acknowledged that the airport attacks will hurt foreign investment and tourism in what was already a turbulent year. “Tourism is the first thing hit in a big way,” he said. While it won’t stop religious tourism, “it will stop high-income travel. Investments will get hit. It was already slower this year.”"}],[{"start":363.12,"text":"“Investors will ask: Is there going to be demand?” the adviser added. “Is the facility safe? If you’re an energy investor, you were already spooked.”"}],[{"start":371.44,"text":"Haytham Linjawi, an assistant professor of political science at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, argued that Saudi Arabia’s strong global relations and the reforms it implemented as part of Vision 2030 are factors that outweigh the security incidents."}],[{"start":387.76,"text":"“Travel disruptions are an immediate logistical consideration for organisers,” he said, “but so far they do not appear to alter the underlying investment in upcoming conferences,” with Saudi Arabia continuing to build hotels, venues and expand airports."}],[{"start":403.68,"text":"But Kristin Smith Diwan, a senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, said that “as long as the airports are under attack and unsafe, people will not come”."}],[{"start":414.16,"text":"“You can’t build a globally integrated economy when you can’t protect your airports,” she said. “If security can be restored, attitudes will change. But today that doesn’t seem fully under Riyadh’s control.”"}],[{"start":426.64,"text":"Additional reporting by Chloe Cornish and Nicolas Parasie in Dubai"}],[{"start":436.2,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1791852706_1476.mp3"}