Riyadh airport shuts after Houthi attack leaves two dead and more injured

At least two people were killed in an attack on the Riyadh airport on Saturday, a medical source at a local hospital told AFP.

The source identified one of the victims as an Egyptian flight attendant working for a Saudi airline, while the second was a Palestinian with Egyptian travel documents.

Another source briefed on the matter, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed the deaths and the victims’ nationalities.

Saudi authorities suspended operations at the airport following the attack.

The situation prompted health officials to activate a rare mass call-up of doctors to deal with the “serious emergency”, a medical source said, while foreign embassies warned their citizens to avoid the facility.

The Saudi civil aviation authority initially confirmed an attack had injured several people at the sprawling King Khalid International Airport, with a diplomatic source attributing it to a missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis.

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.

A witness at the airport reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded and fleeing in panic.

One said: “I was on Gate 403. I saw 401 hit, I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”

A medical source told AFP that the health ministry ordered ER doctors to report to hospitals across the capital on Saturday to treat the wounded.

The source said: “We were told we are dealing with a ‘serious emergency situation’. Injured are being moved to hospitals across Riyadh.”

The Houthis have 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.

Admissions by Saudi authorities of strikes hitting civilian targets are relatively rare, with officials issuing few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks.

The aviation authority said it was still assessing the number of injured from Saturday’s attack, adding that airport “operations had been temporarily suspended pending the completion of an assessment of the damage and verification of the safety of the facilities”.

A source at a local hospital said five people were in intensive care there after being wounded at the airport, with “dozens of people injured” in all.

A relative of one wounded person said they had been hit in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass. Three witnesses confirmed people being evacuated from the airport.

Two doctors told AFP that several pilgrims headed to Mecca had been injured while waiting to board their flight.

A diplomatic source briefed on the matter told AFP the airport was hit by “a missile around 3pm” local time.

The source said: “Houthis are attacking civilian targets. Riyadh airport is a civilian target.”

Supporters of the Houthi authorities brandish their weapons during a protest against Saudi intervention in Yemen on Friday. Photo / AFP

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.

The scale and frequency of the recent strikes targeting Riyadh are unprecedented in the eight months of war in the region.

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that supports Yemen’s government militarily and has found itself drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbour’s civil war.

Both Riyadh and the Houthis have signalled a willingness to keep fighting rather than pursue diplomacy.

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.

The Canadian, German and Spanish embassies also warned their citizens to avoid the facility. Spain’s embassy, in a message on X, alerted nationals to a “new attack... by the Houthis”.

A senior Western diplomat told AFP that several embassies “indicated that they had decided to prohibit their staff’s travel to/from Riyadh Airport over the next week as a prudential step”.

Near the airport, passengers with luggage were seen standing on the pavement at a metro station.

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.

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.

NZ First leader Winston Peters posted on X this morning, saying that New Zealand condemned the attacks by the Houthis on Riyadh Airport and across Saudi Arabia in the last week.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families of those killed and injured and stand in solidarity with the people and Government of Saudi Arabia. Attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure are completely deplorable,” he said.

- AFP