Riyadh’s main airport seems to have come under attack for the second day running. One person died and 11 suffered injuries when a strike hit King Khalid International Airport on Sunday afternoon, October 11, according to officials cited by BBC News and DW. Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said on X that the person killed, a Pakistani resident, died in the attack, BBC News reports. DW quotes the authority’s statement: “King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was subjected to a new attack on Sunday afternoon.”
Saudi officials described a missile and a mystery object. According to BBC News, Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, said air defences had intercepted a missile near the airport, while authorities dealt with a fire caused by an “unknown projectile” that hit Passenger Hall No 4. DW reports that the coalition spokesperson said air defense systems had intercepted a cruise missile near the airport and that no further details came immediately.
The Houthis claimed the attacks. The group said it had “carried out four qualitative operations in the past 24 hours using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones,” DW reports, naming Riyadh airport several times, Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia and two facilities of the state oil company Aramco. BBC News reports that Houthi military spokesman Brig Gen Yahya Saree vowed to continue the “escalating operations deep inside Saudi Arabia.” DW says Saudi authorities later confirmed an attack on Dammam airport.
The strike came hours after a Houthi warning to travelers. “We renew our warning to all airlines, experts, employees, workers and travelers against using Saudi airports and airspace, as they are vulnerable to attack and have become a theater of operations for our forces,” the group said, according to DW, adding that airports in Mecca and Medina would not face attack. The Houthi-run Foreign Ministry warned, via Al Masirah TV as quoted by DW: “Unless the Saudi enemy stops its aggression and interference in Yemen, worse is yet to come, God willing.”
Sunday’s attack follows the deadliest one yet. Outlets differ on Saturday’s toll at the same airport: DW and Al Jazeera report 12 killed and hundreds or more than 300 injured, while BBC News reports 13 dead and 308 injured, calling it the deadliest single attack on a Gulf Arab country since the war between Israel, the US and Iran began in February. The Saudi civil aviation authority listed four Saudi nationals, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt among the dead, according to BBC News, which adds that the Indian embassy said an Indian man later died of his injuries. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that a US citizen died, the BBC reports.
Yemen’s war sits behind the strikes. BBC News reports that the Houthis say they target Saudi Arabia over its support for government forces in Yemen’s civil war and over an air strike on Sanaa’s airport, and that a 2022 ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces collapsed in July. DW reports that the Houthi-run health authority claimed the Saudi-led coalition had killed 91 Yemenis in five weeks, and that Al Masirah TV reported a Saudi strike on Sanaa’s international airport on Sunday; BBC News says Saudi Arabia has not confirmed those attacks and that the BBC could not verify the report.
Reaction came fast. DW reports that the coalition called Saturday’s attack a “full-fledged war crime” and vowed a tough response. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned a “dangerous escalation,” according to DW, and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul called it “a terrorist act against Saudi Arabia and civil aviation.” BBC News reports that Trump said the US would “make a decision” and “move very quickly” on whether to strike the Houthis, while BBC analysis argues that US intervention now seems unlikely before next month’s midterm elections. Whether Washington joins the fight seems likely to shape what comes next.
