Riyadh airport attack halts operations, wounds several

Saudi authorities suspended operations at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday after the civil aviation authority said an attack wounded several people.

The authority said the number of injured people was still being assessed and that operations were temporarily suspended while officials assessed damage and checked the safety of airport facilities.

A source at a local hospital told AFP that five people wounded at the airport were in intensive care and that dozens of people were injured in all. A medical source told AFP that the health ministry ordered emergency-room doctors to report to hospitals around Riyadh to treat the wounded, describing a “serious emergency situation” and saying many of the injured were in critical condition.

A diplomatic source briefed on the matter told AFP the airport was hit by “a missile around 3:00 pm” local time, or 1200 GMT, and attributed the attack to Yemen's Houthis. The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed an attack but did not say who was responsible. The Houthis did not announce a new attack on Saturday.

Witnesses at the airport told AFP they heard an explosion or saw a strike, with people wounded and fleeing. One witness said a gate in the domestic terminal was hit. Three witnesses said people were evacuated from the airport. Two doctors told AFP that several pilgrims headed to Mecca were injured while waiting to board their flight.

The United States, Canada, Germany and Spain warned their citizens to avoid the airport. Spain's embassy said on X that there had been a “new attack” by the Houthis. A senior Western diplomat told AFP that several embassies had decided to bar staff travel to and from Riyadh airport for the next week as a precaution. The earlier published account said Britain had also warned its citizens to avoid the airport until it was secure.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers since a truce in Yemen's war unravelled in July. They claimed a series of recent strikes on Riyadh airport that killed three people and damaged a plane.

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition backing Yemen's government against the Houthis. In Yemen, military sources told AFP that Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis around the Bab al-Mandab strait, while the Houthis said they had repelled the assault. Claims by the warring parties have not been independently verified.