At least 12 people have been killed and 309 others injured in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, with airport operations suspended following the incident.
According to the BBC, the Saudi civil aviation authority says the deaths included four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt.
The authority says some of the injured are in critical condition, while damage to the airport is being assessed.
A Saudi-led military coalition has vowed to respond to the attack, describing it as a “full-fledged war crime” after civilian passengers and airport staff were killed and injured.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has strongly condemned the recent attacks on Saudi Arabia and confirmed that an American citizen was killed in the strikes.
Western embassies in Saudi Arabia have warned their citizens to stay away from the airport, while the UK Foreign Office has advised British nationals to avoid the area until the airport is secure.
Several Gulf airlines have cancelled flights to and from Riyadh, with Kuwait Airways citing the security situation. Aviation tracker Flightradar also shows that flights to Riyadh have either been diverted or cancelled.
The latest attack comes amid escalating fighting between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis, who control most of the country.
Yesterday, the Saudi-led coalition said a projectile had also fallen near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, eastern Saudi Arabia.
This follows reports that three Saudis, including a pilot, were killed in two attacks on the airport the previous day. Another three people were killed in Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports on October 6th and 7th.
The Houthis say they are targeting Saudi Arabia because of its support for government forces in Yemen’s civil war.
A Saudi-led coalition was formed in 2015 after Arab countries joined forces to prevent the Houthis from taking over Yemen from its internationally recognised government.
A temporary ceasefire was brokered in 2022 after years of air strikes and ground fighting that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people and triggered one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
However, the informal truce began to unravel in July, with the Houthis announcing a “maritime embargo” against Saudi Arabia and launching missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.
The Houthis say the attacks are in retaliation for what they describe as a years-long Saudi blockade and an air strike on the airport in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, which is controlled by the group.
Source: BBC
