Riyadh airport hit again after deadly Houthi strike

Saudi authorities said Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport came under its second attack in two days on Sunday, 11 October, following a missile attack the day before that left 13 dead and over 300 wounded. The latest projectile strike caused a fire in a passenger hall and injuries, while Saudi air defences intercepted a cruise missile near the airport, according to reports.¹²³⁴

Second strike and closures

Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said the airport had come under a new attack on Sunday afternoon and that safety and damage assessments were under way. Reports said Terminal 4 was struck and a fire began there. The authorities reported injuries, but the available accounts did not specify the number or their condition.¹²³⁴

According to the Associated Press, Saturday’s attack had already shut down the part of the airport containing Terminals 3 and 4. Saudi authorities extended the closure after the second strike and moved schools online until Thursday, the Guardian reported.³⁴

Houthi claims and wider targets

Houthi forces said they had mounted four attacks during the prior day, deploying drones as well as cruise and ballistic missiles. They said they had targeted Riyadh airport repeatedly, as well as Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia and Saudi oil facilities. Saudi authorities confirmed that Dammam airport had been attacked, according to Deutsche Welle.¹²

The group warned airlines, airport staff, workers and passengers not to use Saudi airports or airspace. It said all Saudi airports could be targets except airports in Mecca and Medina. The Houthis said their actions were a response to Saudi backing for Yemen’s government side in the civil war and to an attack from the air on Sanaa airport; the available material did not allow those claimed reasons to be independently verified.¹²³⁵

Casualties and responses

Deutsche Welle and the Guardian reported that the previous attack on King Khalid International Airport left 13 people dead and more than 300 hurt. One Indian national who had been injured in that attack later died, the reports said. Other accounts put the death toll from the earlier attack at 12, leaving a difference between reported totals.¹²³⁴

The Saudi-led coalition described the airport attack as a war crime and said it would respond. Donald Trump said the attack was “not acceptable” and that the United States would decide whether to strike the Houthis and could act quickly. The UK said it would provide defensive military support by refuelling aircraft intercepting Houthi missiles headed towards Riyadh, according to the Guardian.¹²³

Separately, the Houthis said a Saudi airstrike on a house in Sana’a had killed a child and injured six others. They also said Saudi aircraft had struck Sanaa airport. These claims were reported by the Guardian, Deutsche Welle and the New York Times but were not independently confirmed in the dossier.¹³⁵