Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was open for domestic flights on Wednesday following multiple Houthi strikes on the Saudi capital this month. Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday: Read our full coverage here Riyadh airport partially reopens A limited number of Saudi airlines took off and landed at the country’s main airport on Wednesday, two days after authorities notified airlines that they could resume operations with prior permission. Saudia and FlyNas were operating flights Wednesday, according to flight-tracking data published by FlightAware. Major carriers, including Lufthansa and Air France, have cancelled flights through mid-November. Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has been hit multiple times this month by Yemen’s Houthi rebels and shut down on Oct. 10. The Houthis have acknowledged attacking the airport, claiming without evidence that Saudi Arabia provided military equipment to government forces through the facility. Iran billboard portrays Trump behind bars A billboard-like art installation that went on display north of Iran’s capital features a live actor portraying U.S. President Donald Trump behind bars. A mockup of a prison cell protrudes from the billboard where the actor walks and occasionally sits. It went on display late Tuesday in Tajrish Square. “Not seeing this scene is a crime,” is written on the billboard, while other messages include a reference to an early September U.S. strike on a wedding ceremony in the southern Iranian town port of Sirkik that Iranian state media said killed two women and two children and wounded more than 60 other people. Tehran resident Farzaneh Arabzadeh, 30, said she hopes the scene becomes reality because Trump started the war by attacking Iran and “did something that put our people in a worse situation.” Houthi drones targeting Saudi Arabia destroyed Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, said in a social media post Wednesday that five drones fired toward Saudi Arabia were intercepted and destroyed over the holy city of Medina. The attack was the latest on Saudi Arabia since the resurgence of fighting with the Houthis in mid-July. The Yemeni rebels repeatedly struck targets in the kingdom, including oil facilities and airports, and engaged in fierce clashes with Saudi-backed Yemeni forces in Yemen. The coalition, in turn, hit the rebel-held areas in Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and provided air cover to a major offensive the Yemeni government launched earlier this month. Houthi missile hits army camp next to Yemeni airport Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said a ballistic missile struck a military camp adjacent to Yemen’s Aden airport in Khor Maksar district. The Houthis claim the military camp houses a command centre for the Saudi-led forces fighting the rebels. A transportation ministry official in Aden said a civilian airplane had taken off from the airport before the strike, while the departure hall was evacuated. He said operations in the airport were temporarily suspended and there was no damage to the tarmac. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media. This is the second time the Houthis claim to have targeted the military camp inside the airport complex in five days and the third this month. — By Sara El Deeb in Beirut and Samy Magdy in Cairo France’s Macron makes surprise Saudi Arabia visit French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday arrived in Saudi Arabia for an unannounced visit as part of a regional tour. Macron is expected to meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Macron’s office said he is there to show solidarity and to “continue ongoing efforts to secure oil and gas supplies” from the region. Iran willing to ‘give diplomacy another chance’ Iran is willing to “give diplomacy another chance” but is fully prepared to defend itself if full-scale war resumes, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in the Financial Times. Araghchi gave no details of talks with Washington through mediators on Iran’s recent seven-day proposal to end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He said there was “little reason to expect progress now,” citing what he described as Washington’s unwillingness to advance the talks while threatening further violence. He warned against renewed U.S. military action, saying it would “result in an even greater strategic failure.” U.S. congressional candidate detained in West Bank Brad Lander, a Democrat running for a New York seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, was briefly detained by Israeli police on Wednesday as he joined rabbis and other volunteers accompanying Palestinian farmers during the annual olive harvest in the occupied West Bank. Police gave no reason for Lander’s release, and dozens of other volunteers remained detained, according to Beck Strober, a spokesperson for Protect the Harvest, the group that organized the visit. Neither Israeli police nor the military responded to requests for comment. The Israeli foreign ministry said in a post on X that Lander was “harvesting headlines” and entered a restricted area without authorization in “a calculated political provocation.” The detentions are the latest incident during this year’s Palestinian olive harvest, which Israeli rights group Yesh Din and the Palestinian Farmers’ Union described as the most violent in recent history. ___ This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge. The Associated Press
