{"id":2466,"date":"2026-10-10T23:03:52","date_gmt":"2026-10-10T18:03:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2466"},"modified":"2026-10-10T23:03:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-10T18:03:52","slug":"riyadh-airport-suspends-operations-after-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=2466","title":{"rendered":"Riyadh airport suspends operations after attack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Saudi authorities suspended operations at Riyadh\u2019s international airport on Saturday after a fresh attack there left multiple people wounded.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The situation prompted health officials to activate a rare mass call-up of doctors to deal with the \u201cserious emergency\u201d, a medical source said, while foreign embassies warned their citizens to avoid the facility.<\/p>\n

The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed an attack had injured several people at the sprawling King Khalid International Airport, with a diplomatic source attributing it to a missile fired by Yemen\u2019s Houthis.<\/p>\n

The Iran-backed group has repeatedly targeted the facility, claiming a series of strikes on Thursday that killed three people and damaged a plane, though they did not announce any new attacks on Saturday.<\/p>\n

A witness at the airport reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded and fleeing in panic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was on gate 403\u201d at the domestic terminal, the witness told AFP<\/em>. \u201cI saw 401 hit, I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.\u201d<\/p>\n

A medical source told AFP<\/em> that the health ministry had ordered ER doctors to report to hospitals around the capital to treat the wounded on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were told we are dealing with a \u2018serious emergency situation\u2019. Injured are being moved to hospitals across Riyadh,\u201d with many in critical condition, the source said.<\/p>\n

The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers after a truce in their long-running war with Yemen\u2019s Riyadh-backed government unravelled in July.<\/p>\n

Admissions by Saudi authorities of strikes hitting civilian targets are relatively rare, with officials issuing few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

The aviation authority said the number of injured from Saturday\u2019s attack was still being assessed, adding airport \u201coperations had been temporarily suspended pending the completion of an assessment of the damage and verification of the safety of the facilities\u201d.<\/p>\n

A source at a local hospital said five people were in intensive care there after being wounded at the airport, with \u201cdozens of people injured\u201d in all.<\/p>\n

A relative of one wounded person said they had been hit in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass. Three witnesses confirmed people being evacuated from the airport.<\/p>\n

Two doctors told AFP<\/em> that several pilgrims headed to Makkah had been injured while waiting to board their flight.<\/p>\n

A diplomatic source briefed on the matter told AFP<\/em> the airport was hit by \u201ca missile around 3:00 pm\u201d (1200 GMT).<\/p>\n

\u201cHouthis are attacking civilian targets. Riyadh airport is a civilian target,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Embassy warnings<\/h3>\n

The Yemen conflict flared back to life after a four-year, UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle Eastern war that has rocked the region and roiled energy supplies and markets.<\/p>\n

The scale and frequency of the recent strikes targeting Riyadh are unprecedented in the eight months of war in the region.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that supports Yemen\u2019s government militarily, and has found itself drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbour\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n

Both Riyadh and the Houthis have signalled a willingness to keep fighting rather than pursue diplomacy.<\/p>\n

The US embassy in Saudi Arabia said it was \u201caware of attacks\u201d on Riyadh airport on Saturday and called on American citizens to avoid the area.<\/p>\n

The Canadian, German and Spanish embassies also warned their citizens to avoid the facility. Spain\u2019s embassy, in a message on X, alerted nationals to a \u201cnew attack\u2026 by the Houthis\u201d.<\/p>\n

A senior Western diplomat told AFP<\/em> that several embassies \u201cindicated that they had decided to prohibit their staff\u2019s travel to\/from Riyadh Airport over the next week as a prudential step\u201d.<\/p>\n

Near the airport, passengers carrying luggage could be seen standing on the pavement at a metro station.<\/p>\n

<\/a>Yemen fighting<\/h3>\n

Meanwhile, in Yemen, Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas they captured last month around the Bab al-Mandab strait, military sources told AFP.<\/em><\/p>\n

The Yemeni government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis, after the group seized the country\u2019s entire western coastline in a lightning offensive.<\/p>\n

The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab al-Mandab area \u2014 a key chokepoint for Red Sea oil and cargo shipping \u2014 but they claimed to have repelled the assault.<\/p>\n

Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast on the ground and access for journalists difficult.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Saudi authorities suspended operations at Riyadh\u2019s international airport on Saturday after a fresh attack there left multiple people wounded. The situation prompted health officials to activate a rare mass call-up of doctors to deal with the \u201cserious emergency\u201d, a medical source said, while foreign embassies warned their citizens to avoid the facility. The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed an attack had injured several people at the sprawling King Khalid International Airport, with a diplomatic source attributing it to a missile fired by Yemen\u2019s Houthis. The Iran-backed group has repeatedly targeted…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}