Surveillance footage shows smoke and fire at the moment of an attack at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia [Source: Saudi Ministry of Media/Handout via 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.

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.