Riyadh Airport Hit by Fresh Strike: One Pakistani Killed, 11 Injured; Closure Extended

One person — a Pakistani resident — was killed and 11 others were wounded in a fresh strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Sunday, the Saudi civil aviation authority said, a day after a Houthi-claimed attack killed at least a dozen people and forced the airport’s closure.

The fresh attack struck the airport’s Terminal 4, causing a fire, according to Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen. Air defences also intercepted a cruise missile in the vicinity of the airport, a drone in the kingdom’s Eastern Province, and a ballistic missile launched towards Khamis Mushait, the coalition said. Emergency alerts were issued in Abha in the south early on Monday, though the danger had since passed, Saudi Civil Defense said.

What happened on Sunday

The Yemeni group claimed multiple attacks over the last 24 hours, including on the airport, and threatened to keep targeting the kingdom’s transit hubs, calling them “a theatre of operations for our forces”.

The Saudi civil aviation authority said the wounded were immediately transferred to several hospitals. “The attack also caused property damage, the extent of which is currently being assessed,” it said on X. AFP journalists and locals reported hearing multiple blasts across the Saudi capital on Sunday; one resident of the Al-Aarid neighbourhood said “the whole house shook”.

The authority also reported another attack on Dammam’s King Fahd International Airport in the Eastern Province — which the Houthis also said they had targeted — a day after the Saudi coalition reported a projectile landing nearby. Shortly afterwards, the coalition reported shooting down a drone in the east.

Airport closure extended

Authorities have extended the closure of King Khalid International Airport by 24 hours until 2100 GMT on Monday, the tracking site Flightradar24 said. The airport was shut after Saturday’s attack — the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade — which killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300.

Saturday’s strike was a sharp escalation in the Yemen war, in which Riyadh backs the internationally recognised government against the Houthis, who seized strategic Red Sea coastline last month. Footage released by Saudi state television showed scores of religious pilgrims lined up at a gate, preparing to travel to Islam’s two holiest sites, when an orange flash sent people running in panic and parts of the roof caved in.

The attack prompted Saudi health officials to activate a rare mass call-up of doctors to deal with the emergency, according to a medical source.

Houthis renew airport warning

On Sunday the Houthis renewed their warning to airlines, travellers and airport workers to stay away from Saudi airports — with the exception of those in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. “We renew our warning to all airlines, experts, employees, workers and travellers against using Saudi airports and airspace, as they are vulnerable to attack and have become a theatre of operations for our forces,” the group said in a post on X. “We urge everyone to take our warnings seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for any failed interceptions.”

Earlier, Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree had warned passengers not to travel through Saudi airports, writing on X that “the airports and airspace are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces”.

Latest: diplomatic response and wider impact

In the hours since Sunday’s strikes, the crisis has rippled beyond the battlefield. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan received a phone call from his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi — their first publicly reported contact since the escalation — to discuss de-escalation; Iran said it was ready to help facilitate dialogue between Riyadh and the Houthis, according to the Saudi Foreign Ministry and Al Jazeera.

Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar condemned the attack and said Pakistan is in contact with Saudi authorities, The Express Tribune reported. The Houthis, meanwhile, said they had carried out four operations in 24 hours with ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones — targeting King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, the Shugadam gas facility and the Tanajib oil refinery in the Eastern Province.

Travel disruption is mounting. The embassies of the United States and Germany advised their citizens to avoid airports in Saudi Arabia, while the United Kingdom went further, advising its citizens to leave for neighbouring countries by land. Bloomberg reported that successive strikes have effectively paralysed operations at Riyadh’s airports, with some corporations in the Riyadh financial hub switching to indefinite remote work. Philippine authorities said four Filipinos were hurt in the airport attack, three of them in intensive care.

Wider escalation

The strikes come amid a wider regional escalation. Saudi Arabia has stepped up its military involvement in Yemen in recent weeks, launching strikes against the Houthis and backing a Yemeni government counteroffensive after the group captured territory along the Red Sea coast. Houthi media reported on Sunday that two Saudi strikes had targeted Sanaa governorate in Yemen.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis, in a spillover from the wider war on Iran that the US and Israel launched in February. Separately, the IRGC said three tankers had struck naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, while a drone attack on the Petro Dolphin off Oman left two Indian sailors missing, according to regional reports.

This is a developing story. TimelyUps will update this page as official statements and casualty figures are confirmed. Key reporting: Reuters via Philstar, Reuters via GMA News, CNA and Al Jazeera, The Jerusalem Post, Lokmat Times, Philstar and ChosunBiz.