Houthi Strikes Hit Riyadh Airport for Third Consecutive Day, Killing One More

A projectile struck a passenger terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Sunday, killing one Pakistani resident and wounding 11 others, Saudi authorities said. The strike came one day after a Houthi attack on the same terminal killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300.

The Saudi-led coalition reported that air defences intercepted another missile near the airport the same day. The General Authority of Civil Aviation said the wounded were taken to hospitals and that officials were assessing property damage. Operations at the airport, which serves a city of roughly eight million people, remained suspended.

Houthi media claimed multiple attacks over the preceding 24 hours, including on the airport, and described Saudi transit hubs as “a theatre of operations for our forces.” The group has not formally claimed the Sunday strike in the same terms used for earlier ones, but it has repeatedly said it is targeting Saudi facilities in response to coalition operations in Yemen.

Saturday’s attack was the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade. Among the dead were four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshis, and one person each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. An Indian citizen died later from injuries, bringing the Saturday toll to 13. A Saudia pilot, Captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, was among three Saudis killed in an earlier strike on the same airport on Thursday.

The coalition called the Saturday strike a “full-fledged war crime” and said it would respond. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres condemned the attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure and said they must stop. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose country has no diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia, also denounced the strikes.

The attacks form part of a wider escalation between the Iran-aligned Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition that has supported Yemen’s internationally recognised government. Fighting inside Yemen has intensified in recent weeks, and the Houthis have launched ballistic missiles and drones toward Saudi airports, including Abha and King Khalid.

Saudi authorities extended the closure of King Khalid airport. Flightradar24 reported that operations were suspended until at least 2100 GMT on Monday. Airlines diverted flights, and the US State Department warned American citizens to avoid the airport and surrounding areas.

The cumulative death toll from Houthi attacks on Saudi airports in recent days has reached at least 20, according to Saudi statements and hospital reports. Hundreds more have been wounded. Hospitals in Riyadh received large numbers of casualties by ambulance and helicopter after the Saturday strike.

The pattern of successive strikes on the same civilian facility has raised questions about the performance of Saudi air defences and about the Houthis’ ability to sustain attacks despite coalition operations. Iranian officials have offered to mediate, while the United States has said it is considering whether to join Saudi strikes against the group.

King Khalid International Airport opened in 1983 and remains the principal gateway for Riyadh. Its prolonged closure affects both commercial traffic and the movement of the large expatriate workforce that supports the Saudi capital.