One person has been killed and 11 others injured after Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a second attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, within two days.
According to Saudi authorities, the attack occurred on Sunday when a projectile struck the airport, triggering a fire in one of its passenger halls. The country’s civil aviation authority identified the deceased as a Pakistani resident.
The latest incident followed a deadly strike on the same airport on Saturday, which killed 13 people and injured 308 others.
The attacks form part of a series of assaults on Saudi Arabian targets in recent days.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying they had deployed ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, against Saudi targets within the past 24 hours.
The group also claimed to have struck oil facilities and Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia.
The rebels’ military spokesman, Brigadier General Yahya Saree, vowed to continue the “escalating operations deep inside Saudi Arabia”.
He also warned that Saudi airports could be targeted, except those in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, while urging airlines and passengers to avoid the country’s airports and airspace.
The Houthis said their attacks were in response to Saudi Arabia’s support for government forces in Yemen’s civil war and an air strike on Sanaa International Airport, the main airport in Yemen’s capital.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for the Saudi-led military coalition, Major General Turki al-Maliki, said air defence systems had intercepted a missile near Riyadh airport on Sunday.
He added that authorities were responding to a fire caused by an “unknown projectile” that struck Passenger Hall No. 4.
The escalating violence has drawn reactions from Western leaders, with US President Donald Trump saying Washington would “make a decision” and “move very quickly” on whether to launch strikes against the Houthis.
UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting also indicated that Britain could “potentially” provide additional support to Saudi Arabia.
Saturday’s attack was described as the deadliest single assault on a Gulf Arab country since the war involving Israel, the United States and Iran began in February.
The Saudi-led coalition condemned the incident as a “war crime” and vowed to respond.
The Saudi civil aviation authority said the victims of Saturday’s attack included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshi nationals and one citizen each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt.
India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia also confirmed on Sunday that an Indian man had died from injuries sustained in the strike.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attacks and confirmed that an American citizen was among those killed, while UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said he was “appalled” by the incident.
The latest attacks have prompted travel warnings from Western governments.
The UK Foreign Office has advised against travel to parts of Saudi Arabia, including areas within 10 kilometres of the border with Yemen, while other Western embassies have cautioned their citizens about travelling in the region.
The violence has intensified since a temporary ceasefire between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces, brokered in 2022, collapsed in July.
The conflict escalated after the rebels seized strategically important sections of Yemen’s Red Sea coast, prompting Saudi air strikes.
Pro-government forces later said they had retaken the areas.
The Houthis control roughly a quarter of Yemen’s territory, encompassing as much as 80 per cent of its population.
The Iran-backed group has sought to extend its control across the country, raising concerns in Saudi Arabia about the possibility of an Iranian-aligned authority emerging along its southern border.
In a diplomatic development, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told his Saudi Arabian counterpart on Sunday that Tehran was prepared to assist in efforts to “facilitate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen”, referring to the Houthi administration.
