At least 12 people have been killed and 309 injured in a missile attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to the country’s civil aviation authority.
The victims include four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshis and one person each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. Some of the injured are in critical condition, while authorities are assessing the damage. Airport operations have been suspended.
The attack comes amid escalating hostilities between Saudi-backed government forces and Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen.
A Saudi-led coalition blamed the Houthis for the strike, with spokesperson Major General Turki al-Maliki calling it a “full-fledged war crime.”
The group has not claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack, though it was blamed for earlier strikes that killed three people and damaged a plane. A projectile also fell near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
More than a dozen ambulances rushed to the airport, while witnesses reported explosions and panic inside the domestic terminal.
Flights were diverted or cancelled, and Western embassies, including those of the UK and Canada, advised citizens to avoid the airport.
US President Donald Trump said Washington was considering joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attacks, confirming an American citizen was among those killed.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned the strikes, calling them a violation of international law.
The attacks follow renewed Houthi missile and drone strikes on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers amid the deteriorating Yemen conflict and the collapse of an informal ceasefire.
