Saudi Arabia has closed Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport after a Houthi attack killed at least 12 people, including a US citizen, and injured 309 others. The Iran-backed group has since threatened further strikes on Saudi airports and airspace.
A projectile struck a passenger terminal at the airport on Sunday, according to the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen. No further details about the latest incident were immediately available, but the terminal is part of the complex housing terminals 3 and 4, which serve domestic flights.
The airport remained shut, with flights diverted elsewhere, while schools in Riyadh moved lessons online. The United States, Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned their citizens to avoid the airport.
The Houthis did not claim responsibility for the deadly strike on Saturday, but warned that Saudi airports and airspace were now potential targets, excluding the holy sites in Mecca and Medina.
“The airports and airspace are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces,” the group’s military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, wrote on X. He urged “everyone to take our warnings seriously”.
The Saudi statement said those killed included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, and one person each from Palestine, the US, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Sudan. Several hospitals were treating the injured, some of whom were in a serious condition.
The Egyptian victim was identified by Egyptian state television as Azza Ramzy, a 28-year-old flight attendant who worked for Saudi airline Flynas.
On Sunday, the Houthis also said that an airport under their control in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, had been struck again. They blamed Saudi Arabia but gave no further details.
The escalation follows a major military offensive launched by a Saudi-led coalition against the Houthis during the past week. The group has also claimed attacks on other Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure, including earlier strikes on King Khalid airport that it said killed three Saudis, among them a pilot.
The airport has no military facilities, according to the report.
The United Nations and world leaders condemned the Riyadh attack. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington “strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis”, while a State Department spokesman said the Trump administration was in close contact with its Saudi partners.
President Trump said he was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said attacks by Iran’s proxies were “pushing the region into a spiral of violence” and destabilising important transport and energy hubs.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also condemned the attack, saying: “Terrorism targets innocent people and seeks to spread fear and instability. It must be confronted with resolve.”
