Saudi authorities reported on Sunday that several people were injured when the airport in Riyadh was struck again, and that a second airport elsewhere in the country also came under attack, according to Göteborgs-Posten.
The kingdom's aviation authority said King Khalid International Airport in the capital was hit on Sunday afternoon. Later that evening, the Yemen-based Houthi movement said it was responsible for the strikes, the paper reported.
The coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which backs Yemen's internationally recognized government in its conflict with the Houthis, said a projectile came down inside one of the airport's terminal buildings. The coalition also said a cruise missile was brought down near the airport, according to Göteborgs-Posten.
Shortly before 9 p.m. on Sunday, the aviation authority stated that further attacks had been directed at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, which lies farther east, the paper reported.
Flights to and from Riyadh's airport were halted because of the incident, and earlier in the day authorities announced that a number of schools would move to remote teaching, Göteborgs-Posten reported.
King Khalid airport has been closed since a deadly attack on Saturday, in which at least twelve people were killed and more than 300 were wounded, according to the paper.
On Sunday afternoon, the Houthi movement accused Saudi Arabia of having attacked the airport in Sanaa, Yemen's capital. Saudi Arabia has pledged to retaliate for Saturday's deadly strike, Göteborgs-Posten reported.
Why it matters
The strikes mark a sharp escalation in a conflict that has already disrupted air travel and daily life inside Saudi Arabia. The closure of the country's main international gateway in Riyadh, followed hours later by an attack on a second airport in Dammam, suggests that the targeting of civil aviation infrastructure is no longer a single incident but a pattern.
The Houthi claim of responsibility, reported by Göteborgs-Posten, ties the attacks directly to the wider war in Yemen, where the Saudi-led coalition has fought the movement for years. The coalition's account that a projectile struck a terminal building and that a cruise missile was intercepted near the airport points to the use of longer-range weapons capable of reaching deep into Saudi territory.
For travelers and for the aviation sector, the immediate effect is concrete: one major airport shut down, another attacked, and flight schedules suspended. For the region, the question is whether the violence remains tit-for-tat strikes on infrastructure or widens into something larger. Saudi Arabia's promise of retaliation, reported by the paper, raises the prospect of further military action rather than de-escalation.
A day of attacks, claims and counterclaims
The sequence of events on Sunday unfolded over several hours. The aviation authority first reported injuries at King Khalid airport after the afternoon attack. The Saudi-led coalition then offered its account of what happened on the ground, saying a projectile had landed in a terminal building and that a cruise missile had been shot down in the vicinity.
The Houthi movement waited until Sunday evening to claim responsibility for the attacks — a claim that, as Göteborgs-Posten noted, covered all but the most recent one. That gap leaves open which party carried out the strike on Dammam's King Fahd airport, which the aviation authority reported shortly before 9 p.m.
The two airports serve different parts of the country. King Khalid in Riyadh is the capital's principal hub, while King Fahd in Dammam serves the eastern province. Striking both within a single day indicates reach across a wide geographic area.
The practical response from the Saudi side has been to shut down air traffic at Riyadh's airport and to shift some schooling online, measures reported by the paper. Those steps affect not only passengers but also residents going about ordinary routines, a sign of how quickly an attack on infrastructure can ripple outward.
The background to Sunday's violence
Sunday's events did not occur in isolation. King Khalid airport had already been closed following Saturday's attack, which the paper reported killed at least twelve people and injured more than 300. That toll makes it among the deadliest incidents to hit the airport.
Saudi Arabia responded to Saturday's attack with a vow of retaliation, according to Göteborgs-Posten. The Houthis, for their part, leveled their own accusation on Sunday afternoon, saying Saudi Arabia had attacked the airport in Sanaa.
That exchange of accusations and pledges illustrates how the Yemen conflict continues to be fought on multiple fronts — militarily, in the air and on airport runways, and rhetorically, through public claims of responsibility and blame. Each side's account serves both to explain events and to justify its next move.
The coalition's role adds another layer. It supports Yemen's internationally recognized government against the Houthis, and its statements about the projectile and the intercepted cruise missile are part of its effort to characterize the threat and the response. The Houthi claim, meanwhile, positions the group as capable of striking Saudi targets directly.
What remains unclear from the reporting is the full extent of casualties from Sunday's attacks. The aviation authority said several people were injured at Riyadh's airport, but no precise figure was given, and no casualty details were reported for the Dammam attack. The condition of those hurt was not disclosed.
Also unresolved is the status of flight operations beyond Riyadh. The paper reported that traffic to and from the capital's airport was suspended, but did not say whether Dammam's airport was closed or continued operating after the attack there.
What to watch
The coming days will show whether Saudi Arabia follows through on its pledge of retaliation and whether the Houthis claim the Dammam attack as well. The reopening of Riyadh's airport, and any further strikes on aviation infrastructure, will be the clearest signals of where the conflict is heading.
