Missile strikes Riyadh airport, wounding multiple people and halting flights

Saudi authorities suspended operations at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday after a missile attack wounded multiple people, with a diplomatic source attributing the strike to Yemen's Houthis.

Attack wounds multiple at Riyadh airport

A witness at gate 403 in the domestic terminal reported hearing an explosion that hit gate 401, seeing injured people and passengers fleeing in panic. [2] Another witness described the scene at the domestic terminal where people ran after the blast struck nearby. [3] A source at a local hospital said dozens of people had been wounded in the attack, with many in critical condition. [2] Two doctors told AFP that several pilgrims headed to Mecca had been injured while waiting to board their flight. [2] A relative of one wounded person said they had been hit in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass. [2] More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to the airport according to an eyewitness account reported by Reuters. [3]

Operations suspended as damage is assessed

The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed an attack had injured several people at the sprawling King Khalid International Airport. [2] The aviation authority said the number of injured from Saturday's attack was still being assessed, adding airport operations had been temporarily suspended pending the completion of an assessment of the damage and verification of the safety of the facilities. [2] Health officials activated a mass call-up of ER doctors across Riyadh to treat a serious emergency situation, with a hospital source reporting five people in intensive care and dozens injured overall, many in critical condition. [2] Doctors had been asked to report to hospitals to address the situation, a medical source told AFP. [3] Three witnesses confirmed people being evacuated from the airport. [2] The Saudi civil aviation authority said the number of casualties was still being determined as officials assess damage and safety of airport facilities. [4]

Missile attributed to Yemen's Houthis

A diplomatic source briefed on the matter told AFP the airport was hit by a missile around 3:00 pm. [2] The Iran-backed group has repeatedly targeted the facility, claiming a series of strikes on Thursday that killed three people and damaged a plane, though they did not announce any new attacks on Saturday. [2] The Houthis say they are targeting Saudi Arabia over its support for government forces in Yemen's civil war. [3] A diplomatic source said Houthis are attacking civilian targets and that Riyadh airport is a civilian target. [2] The group has repeatedly attacked Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers after a truce in their long-running war with Yemen's Riyadh-backed government unravelled in July. [2]

Embassies warn citizens to stay away

The US embassy in Saudi Arabia said it was aware of attacks on Riyadh airport on Saturday and called on American citizens to avoid the area. [2] The Canadian, German and Spanish embassies also warned their citizens to avoid the facility. [2] Spain's embassy, in a message on X, alerted nationals to a new attack by the Houthis. [2] Several Gulf airlines said they had cancelled their flights to and from the airport, with Kuwait Airways citing the security situation there. [3] All flights to Riyadh have either been diverted or cancelled, aviation tracker Flightradar shows. [3] A senior Western diplomat told AFP that several embassies indicated that they had decided to prohibit their staffs' travel to and from Riyadh Airport over the next week as a prudential step. [2] Near the airport, passengers carrying luggage could be seen standing on the pavement at a metro station. [2]

Escalation follows recent deadly strikes

The attack comes a day after authorities said three Saudis including a pilot were killed in two attacks on the airport by the Iran-backed Houthis the day prior. [3] Another three people were killed in Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports on 6 and 7 October. [3] The scale and frequency of the recent strikes targeting Riyadh are unprecedented in the eight months of war in the region. [2] Admissions by Saudi authorities of strikes hitting civilian targets are relatively rare, with officials issuing few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks. [2] The Yemen conflict flared back to life after a four-year, UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle Eastern war that has rocked the region and roiled energy supplies and markets. [2]

Yemen fighting intensifies on ground

Meanwhile, in Yemen, Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas they captured last month around the Bab al-Mandab strait, military sources told AFP. [2] The Yemeni government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis, after the group seized the country's entire western coastline in a lightning offensive. [2] The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab al-Mandab area but they claimed to have repelled the assault. [2] Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast on the ground and access for journalists difficult. [2] The conflict worsened after the Houthis seized strategically important stretches of the Red Sea coast in a rapid offensive that included the port of Mokha on the Bab al-Mandab Strait. [3] A temporary ceasefire was brokered in 2022 after years of air strikes and ground fighting led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, triggering one of the world's worst humanitarian crises, but the informal truce began to unravel in July. [3]

What to watch next: The Houthis have announced a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia and begun missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea, saying they are retaliating against what they described as a years-long Saudi blockade and for an air strike on Sanaa airport.