Second Houthi Strike on Riyadh Airport Kills One and Injures Eleven
The Houthis have warned airlines against using Saudi airports after a second attack on Riyadh in as many days, as regional tensions deepen following the collapse of a fragile ceasefire
One person has been killed and eleven injured in a second strike on Riyadh's international airport in as many days, Saudi officials have said. A military spokesman confirmed that a projectile struck King Khalid International Airport on Sunday, causing a fire in a passenger hall. The country's civil aviation authority said the dead person was a Pakistani resident. The attack followed a strike on the same airport on Saturday that killed thirteen people and injured 308 others, part of a series of assaults earlier in the week.
The Houthis in Yemen claimed responsibility and warned airlines and passengers against using Saudi airports and airspace. The group said it had targeted the airport over the past 24 hours with a combination of ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones. Its military spokesman, Brig Gen Yahya Saree, said the group had also attacked oil facilities and Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia. He vowed to continue "escalating operations deep inside Saudi Arabia", warning that all Saudi airports were potential targets except those in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina.
The Houthis say they are striking Saudi Arabia over its support for government forces in Yemen's civil war, and in retaliation for an air strike on Sanaa's airport. On Sunday, Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, said air defences had intercepted a missile near Riyadh's airport while authorities tackled the fire caused by an "unknown projectile" that hit Passenger Hall No 4. President Donald Trump has said the United States would "make a decision" and "move very quickly" on whether to strike the Houthis. UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting suggested Britain could "potentially" provide more support for Saudi Arabia.
Saturday's strike was the deadliest single attack on a Gulf Arab state since the war between Israel, the United States and Iran began in February. The Saudi-led coalition vowed to respond and called it a "war crime". Among the dead were four Saudi nationals, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, according to the Saudi civil aviation authority. India's embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday that an Indian man had died of injuries sustained in the attack. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the strikes and confirmed that an American citizen was killed. Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he was "appalled".
The UK Foreign Office advises against all travel to parts of Saudi Arabia, including areas within 10km of the border with Yemen, while other western embassies have warned their nationals about travelling in the region. Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said "the Saudi enemy" had launched an air strike on Sanaa International Airport in Yemen's capital. A residential home in the city was also struck, killing a child and injuring six people, the outlet reported. Saudi Arabia has not confirmed those attacks and the BBC has been unable to verify the report. Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir, vice-president of Yemen's internationally recognised government, called for "decisive actions" from regional and international partners.
Riyadh's airport was struck on Thursday in an attack that killed three Saudi nationals. The Houthis claimed responsibility and said they had used cruise missiles. Two other deadly attacks on Saudi airports in Abha and Riyadh occurred in the two days before that. The latest uptick in violence follows the collapse in July of a temporary ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces brokered in 2022. The conflict worsened after the Houthis seized strategically important stretches of the Red Sea coast in a rapid offensive, prompting Saudi strikes; Yemeni pro-government forces later said they had secured the regions.
The Houthis, an Iran-backed armed group, currently control around a quarter of Yemeni territory and as much as 80 per cent of the country's population, and hope to seize complete control. Saudi Arabia fears this would lead to the establishment of an Iranian satellite state on its southern border. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Saudi counterpart on Sunday that his country was ready to help "facilitate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen", referring to the Houthi administration.