Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Friday temporarily suspended its flight operations to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, citing the “situation in the Middle East”, according to a spokesperson.

The suspension comes amid regular drone and ballistic missile attacks on Riyadh and other airports in Saudi Arabia by Yemen’s Houthi militia, as fighting between Saudi and Houthi forces intensifies.

PIA asked passengers to contact its call centre to check the latest status of their flights before leaving for the airport.

Meanwhile, 104 flights arriving at or departing from Riyadh airport were cancelled and 154 were delayed on Friday, according to Flightradar24. The website’s data showed that 335 flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

PIA’s decision follows similar moves by several other airlines, including Lufthansa Group and three Indian carriers, which suspended flights to Riyadh on Thursday.

A Lufthansa spokesperson told Reuters that the German group’s airlines would suspend flights to the Saudi capital until October 16, citing “current developments in the Middle East”.

India’s largest airline, IndiGo, said it had cancelled all flights to and from Riyadh until October 9. Air India and Akasa Air also told Reuters that they had cancelled flights to and from the Saudi capital until October 10.

Yemen’s Houthi forces escalated their campaign against Saudi Arabia on Thursday, attempting to shut down the kingdom’s airspace and oil facilities with missile fire that disrupted flights and damaged a kindergarten and medical complex.

A thick black column of smoke and flames rose from Riyadh airport in a video verified by Reuters. A witness and three people briefed on the matter said a stationary commercial plane had caught fire and caused the smoke, though the fire was later put out.

After loud booms echoed across Riyadh on Thursday morning, several multinational firms in the King Abdullah Financial District told staff to work from home or evacuated employees, according to people familiar with the matter.

Diplomats were instructed to shelter in place at their embassies, and at least one international school sent children into a basement for safety.

Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said the group launched two ballistic missiles at Riyadh’s airport, one at an airport in Najran and another at an airbase in Khamis Mushait. Saree also ordered workers at Saudi oil facilities to evacuate days after the group hit a major refinery south of the capital.

On Wednesday, three people were killed in attacks on two Saudi international airports including in the capital Riyadh, after Yemen’s Houthis claimed to have fired on both transport hubs.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday condemned recent Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia, reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to the Gulf state’s “sovereignty, territorial integrity and security” under the Makkah Defence Alliance.

The defence pact, of which Turkiye is also a part, was signed on August 7 and aims to strengthen collective deterrence and empower its signatory states to treat an attack against one of them as an attack against all of them.

Pakistan, along with Turkiye, on Monday agreed to deploy military forces and capabilities rapidly in Saudi Arabia.

Soon after the US-Iran war began, PIA suspended flights to several Gulf countries on March 1, including United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait. At the time, the airline said it would not suspend flights to Saudi Arabia.