At least 12 people were killed and 309 others were wounded when missiles struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, according to Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority. The attack hit an area of the airport that houses Terminals 3 and 4, which handle domestic flights, according to media reports cited by SVT Nyheter. Operations at the airport were halted after the strike, and flights were redirected to other airports.
The Houthi movement in Yemen, which receives support from Iran, claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack. On Sunday the group warned people against using Saudi airports, Reuters reported.
Why it matters
The strike is the third against Riyadh's international airport in a single week, Reuters reported, and it marks a sharp escalation in a conflict that has until now been fought largely along the Saudi-Yemeni border and in Yemeni territory. An attack that reaches the Saudi capital's main airport — and that prompts several governments to tell their citizens to stay away — raises direct questions about the safety of civilian aviation in the kingdom.
The dead include four Saudi citizens as well as nationals of Bangladesh, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Sudan, according to the Associated Press. Several of the more than 300 wounded are reported to have serious injuries.
A week of repeated strikes
Saturday's attack followed a sequence of incidents at Saudi airports over the preceding days. On Tuesday, two people were killed and 28 were wounded in an attack on Abha airport in southwestern Saudi Arabia. On Wednesday, one person died and eight were injured in an attack on Riyadh's international airport. On Thursday, Riyadh's airport was targeted again, and an aircraft belonging to the Saudi carrier Saudia was also attacked. Three Saudi citizens were killed in Thursday's attacks, among them a civilian pilot.
The pattern has drawn condemnation from Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Saturday that he condemned the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia and confirmed that an American citizen was among those killed. "These reprehensible attacks show a blatant disregard for innocent civilian lives. They must stop immediately," Rubio wrote in a post on X.
International warnings and Swedish response
Sweden's foreign ministry has urged Swedes to avoid the airport in Riyadh. In an email to SVT Nyheter, the ministry said there is "no information about injured or deceased Swedes." Several other countries, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia and Canada, have also advised their citizens to stay away from the airport.
The fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces backed by Saudi Arabia has intensified recently. A Saudi-led coalition has provided air support to government forces in an offensive aimed at retaking areas along the Red Sea coast that the Houthis have taken control of, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities have not said when flights at King Khalid International Airport will resume, and the coming days will show whether the repeated strikes on Saudi airports continue.
