Dozens hurt as Houthis hit Riyadh airport; Trump: US may join Saudi strikes

Yemen’s Houthis attacked Riyadh’s international airport with a missile on Saturday, a diplomatic source told AFP, with dozens reported wounded and a witness describing panic in the terminal, while the Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed the airport was hit by an attack that forced a suspension of operations.

A missile struck a complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights at King Khalid International Airport and many people were wounded, prompting the airport’s evacuation, two regional officials told AP on condition of anonymity. Ambulances were seen rushing there.

The airport had already been struck in two earlier attacks this week that left four people dead and exposed vulnerabilities in the kingdom’s ability to defend itself as it wages war on the Houthis. Saudi Arabia’s early warning system did not issue an alert ahead of Saturday’s incident.

One witness reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight at King Khalid International Airport, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded.

“I was on gate 403” at the domestic terminal, the witness told AFP. “I saw 401 hit. I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”

An injured traveler told Reuters they saw something fly across the sky outside the airport before part of the ceiling near a departure gate collapsed.

A source at a local hospital told AFP that five people were in intensive care after being wounded at the airport, saying “dozens of people were injured” in all.

The relative of one injured person said they had been wounded in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass, and had been taken to hospital.

Three witnesses confirmed people being evacuated from the airport.

“Houthis are attacking civilian targets. Riyadh airport is a civilian target,” the diplomatic source told AFP, saying the airport was hit by a missile around 3 p.m. local time (1200 GMT).

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, but it comes amid an escalation of missile strikes by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis against Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers after a truce in their long-running war with Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government unraveled in July.

The airport was also hit by deadly attacks claimed by the Houthis on Thursday, though the Iran-backed group did not announce any fresh strikes on the facility on Saturday.

Admissions by Saudi authorities of strikes hitting civilian targets are relatively rare, with officials issuing few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks.

The scale and frequency of the recent strikes targeting Riyadh are unprecedented in the eight months of war that has spread across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that supports Yemen’s government militarily, and has found itself drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbor’s civil war.

Both Riyadh and the Houthis have signaled a willingness to keep fighting rather than pursue diplomacy.

Trump: US to ‘look at’ joining Saudi fight against Houthis

Following the attack, US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House, was asked whether the United States planned to join Saudi strikes on the Houthis.

“We may. We’re going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly,” he said.

The US embassy in Riyadh said it was “aware of attacks” and “strongly recommends all US citizens avoid this airport and surrounding areas.”

The UK and Irish embassies in Saudi Arabia said in statements on X that they were also aware of a “serious incident” at the airport. The Canadian embassy said that “ongoing military activity” had impacted operations at the airport. Germany also warned citizens to avoid the airport.

Flight-tracking site Flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had either been diverted or canceled, with only a helicopter hovering over the airport at one point.

Kuwait Airways said it had canceled flights to and from the Saudi capital due to the closure of Riyadh airport because of the “security situation” there.

Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways earlier canceled multiple flights between their respective hubs and Riyadh, with some cancellations extending into Monday.

Houthi attacks on Thursday and earlier in the week had already prompted a number of carriers to suspend or cancel services to the Saudi capital, shortly before Riyadh is due to host major energy and investment conferences.

Organizers of those conferences said on Saturday they would go ahead as planned, and they sought to reassure attendees of their security.

The Houthis have said airliners should avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it a zone of military operations after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive against the group earlier this month.