Houthi Strike Hits Riyadh Airport Again, Kills One, Injures 11

Houthi Strike Hits Riyadh Airport Again, Kills One, Injures 11

A fresh Houthi attack struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Sunday, killing one person and injuring 11 others, a day after a deadly assault forced the suspension of operations at the Saudi Arabian airport.

The latest attack marked a further escalation in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who have intensified strikes on the kingdom since a truce in their long-running war unravelled in July 2026.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for several attacks over the preceding 24 hours, including the latest assault on Riyadh airport, and threatened to continue targeting Saudi Arabia’s transport hubs.

The group described the facilities as “a theatre of operations for our forces”.

Hours after the claim, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis confirmed that a projectile had struck King Khalid International Airport, triggering a fire. The coalition also said air defences intercepted a missile in the vicinity.

Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority confirmed on X that the latest strike killed a Pakistani resident and wounded 11 other people.

Flight-tracking platform Flightradar24 reported that authorities had extended the airport’s closure by another 24 hours, until 2100 GMT on Monday.

Residents and AFP journalists reported hearing multiple explosions across the Saudi capital on Sunday.

“The birds went into a frenzy after the sound. The whole house shook,” a resident of Al-Aarid neighbourhood in northern Riyadh told AFP.

The fresh assault followed Saturday’s attack, which killed 12 people and injured 309 others, making it the deadliest strike on Saudi soil in more than a decade, according to Saudi authorities.

The civil aviation authority said the victims included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshis and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan.

India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia also reported that one of its citizens died on Sunday after sustaining injuries in Saturday’s attack.

More airports and military targets threatened

The Saudi civil aviation authority reported another attack on Dammam airport in eastern Saudi Arabia, which the Houthis also claimed to have targeted. The development came a day after the Saudi-led coalition reported that a projectile had landed near the facility.

The coalition subsequently announced that it had shot down a drone in the eastern region.

Early Monday, it also said its air defences had intercepted and destroyed a Houthi ballistic missile heading towards Khamis Mushait, a city in southern Saudi Arabia that hosts a major military base.

The successive attacks have raised concerns about the vulnerability of Saudi Arabia’s critical infrastructure despite the kingdom’s substantial investment in military capabilities.

Thomas Juneau, a security analyst at the University of Ottawa, said Saudi air defences had intercepted some Houthi missiles and drones but could not consistently protect the kingdom’s vast territory.

The Saudi-led coalition condemned Saturday’s airport attack as a “full-fledged war crime” and vowed to respond decisively.

Houthi-controlled media, meanwhile, reported two Saudi strikes in Yemen’s Sanaa governorate on Sunday. A spokesman for the Houthi-run health ministry claimed that one of the strikes killed a civilian and injured five others.

The claims could not be independently verified.

Iran calls for political solution

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi urged Saudi Arabia to reconsider a military response during a telephone conversation with his Saudi counterpart, according to Iranian state media.

Araghchi warned that pursuing military action while disregarding political options would further complicate the crisis.

He also expressed Tehran’s readiness to facilitate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen to help achieve a political settlement, the official IRNA news agency reported.

The attacks have drawn international condemnation, including from United Nations officials and several world leaders.

US President Donald Trump said he was considering joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned Saturday’s attack as a “horrific terrorist attack”.

Saudi Arabia’s principal diplomatic partners have also raised security concerns. The United States, Canada, Germany and Spain advised their citizens to avoid Riyadh airport.

Australia condemned the Houthi attacks as “unacceptable” on Monday, after previously urging its citizens in Saudi Arabia to remain indoors and shelter in place.

Witnesses described scenes of panic and severe injuries following Saturday’s assault.

“Some had lost a hand or an arm. People were running while carrying injured people, covered in blood,” a 32-year-old Riyadh resident told AFP.

Conflict threatens regional stability

Saudi Arabia has led an international military coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognised government since 2015. The intervention has sought to counter the Houthis, who control significant territory, including the capital, Sanaa.

The conflict has increasingly threatened regional security and commercial shipping routes, particularly around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic passage linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Military sources said Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces were advancing in a counter-offensive against the Houthis around the strait on Saturday. The Houthis, however, claimed to have repelled the offensive.

Neither side’s battlefield claims could be independently confirmed amid rapidly changing conditions and restricted access for journalists.

With the latest attacks targeting airports and other strategic facilities, the confrontation risks widening beyond Yemen’s borders, further threatening civilian safety, aviation operations and regional economic activity.