Saudi Arabia suspends Riyadh airport after attack causes multiple injuries
Saudi Arabia suspended operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday after a missile struck a passenger terminal, leaving multiple people injured. The kingdom’s General Authority of Civil Aviation confirmed the casualties and the operational halt, while local medical sources reported that emergency room doctors across the capital were mobilized as the wounded were transferred to area hospitals. In the wake of the blast, several Western embassies—including those of the United States, Germany, Canada, and Spain—advised their citizens to avoid the airport, while regional carriers such as Qatar Airways, Etihad Airways, and Kuwait Airways canceled scheduled flights.
The incident is part of a sharp military escalation following repeated strikes on the Riyadh airport earlier in the week that killed four people, injured others, and damaged aircraft. Although Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels did not immediately claim Saturday's strike, cross-border attacks have intensified since a peace agreement unraveled in July. The fighting reignited after Houthi forces advanced along Yemen's Red Sea coast last month, triggering Saudi-led coalition air support for Yemeni government troops, who subsequently announced a counter-offensive to retake rebel-held territory around the Bab al-Mandab strait.
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