• Makkah-bound pilgrims among dozens wounded
• Riyadh airport operations suspended
• Trump says US ‘may’ join Saudi attacks on Houthis

RIYADH: At least two people were killed and several others wounded in a missile attack on Riyadh International Airport on Saturday, triggering evacuations from parts of the facility and forcing the suspension of airport operations.

Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority confirmed the attack and a diplomatic source attributed it to a missile fired by the Houthis. “Houthis are attacking civilian targets. Riyadh airport is a civilian target,” the source said.

A source at a local hospital told AFP that those killed included an Egyptian flight attendant working for a Saudi airline and a Palestinian holding Egyptian travel documents. Dozens of people were injured, including several pilgrims travelling to Makkah, with five in intensive care, according to an earlier account.

The attack also prompted questions over a possible US response. Asked whether Washington had decided to join Saudi strikes against Yemen’s Houthis, US President Donald Trump said his administration would review the situation.

“We may. We’re going to look at it,” Trump told reporters. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”

Meanwhile, Saudi health officials activated a rare mass call-up of doctors, ordering emergency room staff to report to hospitals around the capital to deal with what one medical source described as a “serious emergency situation”.

A witness in the domestic terminal described fleeing in panic. “I was on gate 403,” the witness said. “I saw 401 hit, I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”

The relative of one injured person said they had been wounded in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass, and had been taken to hospital. Three witnesses confirmed people being evacuated from the airport.

The attack followed two earlier strikes on the airport this week that killed four people, including a pilot, and damaged an aircraft. Saudi authorities rarely acknowledge strikes on civilian targets and have issued few statements in recent weeks.

Authorities said operations were suspended pending an assessment of the damage and checks on the safety of the facilities.

Flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had been diverted or cancelled. Passengers with luggage were seen standing on the pavement outside a metro station near the Riyadh Airport, which urged travellers to contact their airlines before setting out.

Kuwait Airways cancelled flights to the Saudi capital, citing the “security situation”. Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways had earlier cancelled multiple flights, some into Monday. The Houthis have declared Saudi airspace a military operations zone and said airliners should avoid it.

The US, Canadian, German and Spanish embassies warned their citizens to avoid the airport. Spain’s embassy alerted nationals on X to a “new attack”, Canada cited “ongoing military activity” and Germany referred to “the current situation”.

France’s embassy had on Friday urged its nationals to take “utmost care” and not to record or share images of hit sites online.

A senior western diplomat said several embassies had decided to bar staff from travelling to or from the airport for the next week as a precaution.

Earlier Houthi attacks had already led carriers to suspend services shortly before Riyadh hosts major energy and investment conferences. Organisers said on Saturday the events would go ahead as planned to reassure attendees.

The scale and frequency of the strikes on Riyadh are unprecedented in the eight months of war that has spread across the Middle East.

Both Riyadh and the Houthis have signalled they are prepared to keep fighting rather than pursue diplomacy. Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition backing Yemen’s government and has been drawn deeper into its neighbour’s civil war.

In Yemen, Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis around the Bab al-Mandab strait, a key chokepoint for Red Sea shipping, military sources said.

The Houthis seized the area last month in a lightning offensive. The government announced a counteroffensive last week and launched a major operation on Friday backed by Saudi air power. The coalition said it destroyed more than 130 Houthi targets early on Saturday.

The Houthis confirmed government forces had attacked but claimed to have repelled them. “Saudi-led forces attempted to advance from the Ras al-Ara area in Lahj governorate towards the area south of Bab al-Mandab,” said Hizam al-Asad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau.

“However, our forces repelled them outside the Bab al-Mandab zone, inflicting heavy losses in personnel and equipment and forcing the survivors to retreat.”

Al-Asad said the Houthis retained control of Bab al-Mandab, Mayun Island and remaining areas along the western coast. Government military sources also said Mayun Island remained in Houthi hands as fighting continued.

At least 63 people have died in clashes around the strait in the past 24 hours, 35 government fighters and 28 Houthis.

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2026