King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was hit for the second time in as many days, with Saudi officials reporting a fire at a passenger terminal and injuries among those at the facility.
Missile and drone claims raise aviation risks
A Saudi military representative said on Sunday that a projectile had hit the airport. The kingdom’s civil aviation regulator separately confirmed that the incident had caused injuries.
The assault came after an attack on Saturday that was reported to have killed 12 people and injured more than 300. Riyadh’s airport had already been struck earlier in the same week.
Yemen’s Houthi movement took responsibility for the latest attacks and urged airlines and travellers not to use Saudi airports or the kingdom’s airspace.
- The group said it had fired ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones at King Khalid International Airport during the previous 24 hours.
- Its military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, said oil facilities and Dammam Airport in eastern Saudi Arabia had also been targeted.
- Saree said operations would intensify within Saudi territory and warned that airports throughout the country could face attacks, with the exception of facilities in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The Houthis said their campaign was tied to Saudi backing for Yemeni government troops in the country’s civil war, as well as what the group described as a Saudi air raid on Sanaa International Airport, the capital’s principal airport.
Saudi response and possible Western support
Major General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said air-defence forces had destroyed a missile near Riyadh’s airport on Sunday. He said emergency teams were dealing with a blaze in Passenger Hall No. 4 after it was hit by an unidentified projectile.
US President Donald Trump said Washington would decide whether to conduct strikes against the Houthis and would act “very quickly.” UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said Britain could potentially offer Saudi Arabia further assistance.
Saturday’s incident was characterised as the most lethal individual attack on a Gulf Arab state since the Israel-US-Iran war began in February. The Saudi-led coalition called it a war crime and said it would respond.
Victims, travel warnings and conflict backdrop
Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said the fatalities recorded after Saturday’s attack included nationals from several countries.
- Four of those killed were Saudi nationals.
- Two were citizens of Bangladesh.
- One victim each came from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt.
- The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that an Indian national had died from wounds suffered in the Saturday strike.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio denounced the attacks and said an American citizen was among the dead. British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he was appalled by the violence.
Britain’s Foreign Office has advised against travel to certain parts of Saudi Arabia, including areas located within 10 kilometres, or 6.2 miles, of the Yemeni border. Other Western diplomatic posts have likewise issued warnings to their citizens in the area.
Houthi-controlled Al Masirah television said Saudi forces had bombed Sanaa International Airport. Saudi officials did not confirm the reported strike, and the claim could not be independently verified.
Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir, vice-president of Yemen’s internationally recognised government, urged regional and international allies to take “decisive actions” as the confrontation worsens.
Riyadh’s airport was also attacked on Thursday, when three Saudi citizens were killed. The Houthis said cruise missiles had been used against the airport.
In the two days before the Thursday attack, two additional fatal assaults were directed at airports in Abha and Riyadh.
The renewed hostilities follow the breakdown in July of a temporary truce between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces. That ceasefire had been arranged in 2022.
Tensions later rose when Houthi forces captured strategically significant stretches of Yemen’s Red Sea coast in a rapid campaign, leading to Saudi air strikes. Pro-government Yemeni forces subsequently said they had regained those areas.
