Saudi capital's airport reopens to limited traffic, and other Mideast news

Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was open for domestic flights on Wednesday following multiple Houthi strikes on the Saudi capital this month.

A British naval maritime security organization said a projectile ignited a fire aboard a tanker off Oman, but its crew was safe.

Here is the latest news from the Middle East on Wednesday. Read our full coverage here.

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 canceled flights through mid-November.

Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport has been hit multiple times by Yemen’s Houthi rebels this month 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.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Organization said Wednesday unknown projectiles ignited a fire aboard a tanker in the Persian Gulf off Oman and struck another tanker off Iraq in separate incidents.

The first attack occurred 12.6 miles west of the coastal town of Bukha in the Omani province of Musandam, it said.

The UKMTO said the fire was extinguished and the tanker was at anchor, with its crew safe.

The second attack occurred 34.5 miles southeast of Al Faw, Iraq. The tanker's crew is safe, while no damage to the tanker or environmental impact has been reported.

The attack was the latest against vessels attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz without coordinating with Iran amid its conflict with the United States.

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 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 center 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 that 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

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 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: “I can say with complete and utter confidence that it will result in an even greater strategic failure.”

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 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.

Egypt on Wednesday rejected the Libyan parliament’s approval of a contested 2019 maritime deal with Turkey, saying the agreement infringes on Egypt’s sovereign rights in the Mediterranean.

Libya’s eastern-based House of Representatives unanimously approved the memorandum on Tuesday, reversing its 2020 rejection of the deal, which delineates maritime jurisdiction between Libya and Turkey. Greece and Cyprus also condemned the vote.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry called the memorandum “null and void” and said it violates the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Egypt “reserves its right to protect its interests,” the ministry said.

The statement puts Cairo publicly at odds with Libya’s eastern parliament, which is aligned with military commander Khalifa Hifter, a longtime Egyptian ally.

Israel also condemned the vote, saying the deal infringes on the sovereign rights of “our close allies in the region” and accusing Turkey of seeking to destabilise the eastern Mediterranean.

This report will be updated throughout the day as new developments emerge.

Prisoners detained in connection with Yemen's ongoing conflict line up before they are freed by the Houthis in a release supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Residents inspect debris of their homes after a missile strike in Seina, Taiz, Yemen, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Marzouq Al Jabri)

Prisoners detained in connection with Yemen's ongoing conflict react before they are freed by the Houthis in a release supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross, in Sanaa, Yemen, Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Osamah Abdulrahman)

Residents walk on debris of their homes at Seina district in Taiz, Yemen, after a missile strike, Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026. (AP Photo/Marzouq Al Jabri)

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Over 500 people in South Africa have fallen ill from a gastrointestinal illness that causes stomach cramps and diarrhea, which authorities are blaming on poor water quality in two different cities in the country.

Authorities this week issued a warning to communities east of the capital, Pretoria, to stop drinking water from their taps after 408 people including children fell ill and were treated at various health facilities.

Like other cities in the country, the capital and its suburbs have long had issues with the cleanliness of the region's water, and it remains a contentious political issue.

On Wednesday, city officials were distributing water to residents through emergency tankers, while the charity organization Gift of the Givers supplied the community with bottled water.

Most of those who fell ill were children under 4. According to health and city officials, the people fell ill after drinking contaminated water from a water treatment plant which supplies water to several communities east of Pretoria.

Authorities confirmed that the water at the plant had not been chlorinated for about three weeks, rendering it unsafe for human consumption. Officials said the municipality had trouble obtaining chlorine from its usual supplier.

They said the plant gets water from the Bronkhorstspruit River, which is badly contaminated with sewage pollution from poorly functioning wastewater treatment plants upstream.

An initial investigation revealed that officials failed to inform residents about the poor quality of the water.

Nasiphi Moya, mayor of the city of Tshwane, which includes Pretoria and surrounding communities, said that an investigation found that city officials had failed to warn affected areas “that the water being supplied had not been chlorinated and therefore should not be drunk or used for cooking, washing or bathing, even after boiling.”

Various political parties have called for Moya to resign, and for other officials to be fired, to take responsibility for the water contamination.

In the coastal city of Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape province, at least 111 students from Rhodes University have been treated for a gastrointestinal illness over the last few days, the university said Wednesday.

University and water authorities were investigating the cause of the outbreak, but they also suspected it was due to the water quality.

“Students who experienced severe symptoms were taken to hospital for medical attention and have since returned to campus,” university spokesperson Olwetu Gwanya said on Wednesday.

Staff and students were urged to remain vigilant and practice safe water use, food handling and personal hygiene, both on and off campus.

“These measures include drinking boiled and cooled or bottled water, using safe water to prepare food and brush teeth, avoiding ice and uncooked food washed in untreated water and washing hands regularly with soap and water,” Gwanya said.

FILE - A man carrying water bottles walks along a dusty street in Hamanskraal, Pretoria, South Africa, Friday, May 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)