Riyadh parents stuck in war-time limbo
Semafor · Manal Albarakati ·
Schools have gone remote, high-rise office towers are shut, and the Saudi capital’s business-as-usual front is wearing thin.
The Scene
Houthi strikes on the Saudi capital have created an eerie echo of the COVID-19 period: Schools have gone online and many businesses have sent staff home, spurring an economic slowdown similar to that during the pandemic. And like six years ago, there is no foreseeable end.
Parents in Riyadh have been stuck in limbo for almost a month, waiting and wondering when they will be able to send their children back to school so they can get on with work. The frequency of strikes on the city has not slowed over the past month since that side of the conflict started, with missile alerts still ringing multiple times a week, sometimes multiple times a night.