The deadliest strike on Saudi soil in more than a decade killed 12 people at Riyadh’s international airport and wounded hundreds, prompting the Saudi-led coalition to vow on Sunday a decisive response against Yemen’s Houthis.
The coalition blamed the Iran-backed group for the strike on King Khalid International Airport, describing it as a “full-fledged war crime” that a diplomatic source attributed to a missile.
The attack came during an unprecedented wave of Houthi strikes on the kingdom since a truce in the group’s long-running war with Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government unravelled in July.
The spiralling violence has raised the possibility of a wider escalation, with US President Donald Trump signalling Washington could join military action against the fighters.
One passenger told AFP they witnessed a strike in the airport’s domestic terminal.
“I was on gate 403,” the witness said. “I saw 401 hit, I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”
Four Saudi citizens were among those killed in the attack, as well as two Bangladeshis, one US citizen, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese, the kingdom’s civil aviation authority said in a statement.
It said some of the 309 wounded were in serious condition.
Operations at the airport were suspended following the attack and authorities said damage assessments were ongoing.
The attack prompted health officials to activate a rare mass call-up of doctors to deal with the “serious emergency situation”, a medical source said.
Two doctors told AFP that several pilgrims headed to Mecca were among the wounded.
Schools in Riyadh switched to remote learning for the second time in a month.
Parents in the capital received emails Sunday seen by AFP, citing an order from the education ministry, saying “all schools in Riyadh will switch to distance learning for the entire week.
“The cowardly terrorist attack by the Terrorist Houthi Militia… which resulted in deaths and injuries among civilian passengers and airport staff, constitutes a full-fledged war crime,” coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki said in a statement on X.
Earlier, the coalition said it had intercepted missiles targeting Saudi Arabia and destroyed launch platforms.
The Houthis claimed a series of attacks targeting the airport on Thursday that killed three people and damaged a plane, though they did not immediately take responsibility for any new strikes on Saturday.
Saturday’s attack was the deadliest in the kingdom since May 2015, when a suicide bombing by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group killed 21 worshippers in a Shia mosque in the eastern Qatif governorate.
The civil war in Yemen flared back to life in July after a four-year, UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle East war that has rocked the region and roiled energy supplies and markets.
Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that has supported Yemen’s government militarily since 2015 and is now being drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbour’s conflict.
Asked on Saturday whether he had changed his mind about joining Saudi strikes on the group, Trump said: “We may.”
He said he would be speaking with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, calling what happened in the kingdom “not acceptable”.
US media outlets have reported that previous Saudi requests for US military assistance in dealing with the Houthis have been rebuffed.
The US, Canadian, German and Spanish embassies in Saudi Arabia warned their citizens to avoid the airport.
A senior Western diplomat told AFP that several embassies were banning their staff from using the airport “over the next week”.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the “heinous attack” and reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to Saudi Arabia’s security under their defence pact.
The latest attack came on the eve of Saudi Arabia’s high-profile convention and entertainment season, which begins this month.
Riyadh usually hosts a packed calendar of events, including its flagship investment conference drawing foreign leaders and business titans.
In Yemen, Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas the group 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.
The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab al-Mandab area — a key chokepoint for Red Sea oil and cargo shipping — but claimed to have repelled them.
Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast on the ground and access for journalists difficult. (AFP)
