RIYADH, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia stopped issuing public warnings of imminent military attacks days before a series of deadly strikes on Riyadh airport that killed at least 18 people and wounded more than 300.
The government has not said why there were no alerts to the public before the four Riyadh attacks in the past week.
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The warnings had served to highlight the violence undermining the kingdom’s efforts to project an image of calm to its people and the world during its war with Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis.
Their absence during the airport strikes raised questions about Saudi Arabia’s vulnerability to attack and about its ability to protect residents and visitors, four Western and Arab officials in the region and political analysts told Reuters.
It also reflected efforts to maintain a sense of normalcy, they 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,” said Sultan Alamer, a US-based Saudi academic and Senior Resident Fellow at the Middle East Policy Council think tank.
The Saudi civil defence – a national emergency management, rescue and firefighting agency which operates under the interior ministry and issues early warning alerts – and the Saudi government media office did not respond to emailed questions on why no alerts were issued.
Saudi Arabia’s approach is also one that some regional analysts said risked backfiring because the absence of warnings has heightened uncertainty in the kingdom.
On Monday, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority issued its first alerts since September 29, warning of potential threats in Riyadh and southern cities.
Reuters was unable to ascertain whether the decision to issue alerts again was a response to the airport attacks, and the Saudi government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the matter.
SYSTEM GOES SILENT
All Gulf countries have been hit by Iranian drones and missiles since the US-Iran war began in February, but their governments have handled public warnings differently.
Qatar’s interior ministry has issued mobile phone alerts before nearly every attack, including most recent attacks in July, when residents were warned to stay inside and away from windows.
Bahrain and Kuwait have repeatedly sounded sirens urging people to take shelter.
Saudi Arabia began issuing threat alerts to mobile phones and social media accounts via a national early warning system in May. But despite increasing Houthi attacks leading up to last week, the system went silent.
The last alert before last week’s attacks was issued on September 29, for the southern province of Najran, according to posts on the civil defence X account.
The civil defences authority has continued to issue warnings about staying out of harm’s way during adverse weather, including rain and flooding, and did so as recently as Monday.
It also warned residents not to share images, rumours or information about interceptions and impact sites, including in a post on Monday, under government regulations issued in March.
Reuters could not determine whether anyone had faced prosecution for sharing such information, and the Saudi government media office did not respond to a request for comment on the matter.
Before last week’s airport attacks, officials from an allied Western government asked Saudi authorities why the alerts had stopped, two officials with direct knowledge of the matter said.
