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Saudi Arabia will not agree to a ceasefire with Yemen's Houthis until the Saudi-backed Yemeni government regains all the territory it lost in recent weeks, a regional source briefed on Saudi government policy told Agence France-Presse (AFP) on Friday.
Riyadh is ruling out negotiations on "any truce or ceasefire before the Yemeni government regains the territory it lost last month," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"Saudi Arabia will not bow to blackmail," the source added.
The hard line came a day after Houthi attacks on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed three Saudi nationals, including a Saudia pilot, as the Iran-backed group presses strikes on Saudi airports and oil facilities.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said two attacks Thursday targeted airport facilities and a Saudia aircraft, killing three citizens and injuring others. Operations have since resumed, and air traffic has returned to normal, it said.
Saudia said the attack damaged one of its aircraft while it was on the ground, with no passengers aboard, and killed one of its employees, Captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami.
The carrier expressed "profound sadness."
Saudi authorities did not say who was responsible.
The Houthis claimed a series of attacks on the airport and said they also fired missiles at an airport in Najran and an air base in Khamis Mushait.
The Houthis seized large swaths of Yemen's Red Sea coast last month in a lightning offensive. Yemen's government has claimed it pushed Houthi fighters out of strategic areas and the port city of Mocha, but the Houthis say they are holding their territory.
Military sources from both sides contacted by AFP reported no major changes on the ground.
Claims could not be independently verified.
More than 200,000 people have been displaced in Yemen since July, according to U.N. data. In Taiz, a Houthi siege has cut the government-held city’s main supply route to Aden.
"There is a crisis in everything: water, gas, vegetables, everything essential," resident Um Rian told AFP, as Riyadh's refusal of a Houthi truce signals more fighting ahead.
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