Saudi Arabia's civil defence authority issued its first alerts since 29 September on Monday, warning of potential threats in Riyadh and southern cities. At least 18 people died and more than 300 were wounded during deadly strikes on the Riyadh airport.
Riyadh airport cancelled approximately 60% of its flights on Monday following those attacks. The kingdom had stopped issuing public warnings of imminent military attacks days before the airport strikes occurred.
Prior to last week's strikes, the final alert was issued on 29 September for the southern province of Najran. Officials from an allied Western government stated that alerts were suspended because they were too disruptive and many citizens complained about being woken by them at night.
Saudi Arabia launched a national early warning system in May to send threat alerts to social media accounts and mobile phones. Western embassies within the kingdom have been providing their own internal missile and drone alerts to staff members.
In contrast, Qatar's interior ministry has issued mobile phone alerts before nearly every attack, including most recent strikes in July. Bahrain and Kuwait have also repeatedly sounded sirens to urge people to take shelter.
Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Salaman, the kingdom's energy minister and brother of the crown prince, stated at an international conference on Monday: "We will never forfeit any chance to maintain our commitment and our vision." Ali Shihabi, a Saudi analyst close to the government, noted that the country has too much to protect and lacks enough Patriot missile defence systems or interceptors to cover all airports, pipelines, and oil facilities at once.
Sultan Alamer, a US-based Saudi academic and Senior Resident Fellow at the Middle East Policy Council think tank, said: "They (the Saudi government) want to have it both ways: to launch a military operation and at the same time try to give confidence to the population and external stakeholders."
Sultan Alamer, a US-based Saudi academic and Senior Resident Fellow at the Middle East Policy Council think tank, said: "They (the Saudi government) want to have it both ways: to launch a military operation and at the same time try to give confidence to the population and external stakeholders."
Sultan Alamer, a US-based Saudi academic and Senior Resident Fellow at the Middle East Policy Council think tank
