Riyadh airport attack kills at least 12, Saudi officials say

At least 12 people were killed and 309 wounded in a strike on Riyadh's airport, blamed on Yemen's Houthis.

The attack forced a suspension of airport operations and prompted foreign embassies to advise citizens to stay away.

The civil war in Yemen resumed in July, and Saudi-supported forces are advancing against the Houthis.

RIYADH, Oct 11 — At least 12 people were killed and 309 others wounded yesterday in a strike on Riyadh’s international airport, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation officials said — an attack that a diplomatic source blamed on Yemen’s Houthis.

Four Saudi citizens were among the dead, as well as two Bangladeshis, one US citizen, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese, the statement added. Some of the wounded were in serious condition.

The Iran-backed Houthis have unleashed a wave of strikes against the kingdom on an unprecedented scale, targeting Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers since a truce in their long-running war with Yemen’s Riyadh-backed government unravelled in July.

Admissions by Saudi authorities of strikes hitting civilian targets are relatively rare, and aviation officials did not mention the Houthis by name.

The diplomatic source attributed the attack to a Houthi missile.

Operations were suspended at the sprawling King Khalid International Airport following the attack, the Saudi civil aviation authority said earlier.

Damages were still being assessed.

The attack prompted health officials to activate a rare mass call-up of doctors to deal with the “serious emergency situation”, a medical source said.

Foreign embassies warned their citizens to avoid the airport.

‘Serious emergency situation’

One passenger told AFP they witnessed a strike in the airport’s domestic terminal.

“I was on gate 403,” the witness said. “I saw 401 hit, I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”

Hours after the Riyadh attack, a spokesman for the Saudi-led international coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said in a post on X that a “projectile” had landed near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.

And then early Sunday, the coalition said it had intercepted a missile southeast of the capital.

The Houthis claimed a series of strikes targeting the airport on Thursday that killed three people and damaged a plane, though they did not immediately take responsibility for any new attacks on Saturday.

Two doctors told AFP that several pilgrims headed to Mecca had been among the wounded.

US ‘may’ join Saudi strikes

The civil war in Yemen flared back to life in July after a four-year, UN-brokered truce collapsed, months into a wider Middle East war that has rocked the region and roiled energy supplies and markets.

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that has supported Yemen’s government militarily since 2015 and is now being drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbour’s conflict.

Asked on Saturday whether he had changed his mind about joining Saudi strikes on the group, US President Donald Trump said: “We may.”

“We’re going to look at it,” Trump told reporters at the White House. “We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision.”

US media outlets have reported that previous Saudi requests for US military assistance in dealing with the Houthis have been rebuffed.

The US, Canadian, German and Spanish embassies in Saudi Arabia called on their citizens to avoid the airport.

A senior Western diplomat told AFP that several embassies had said they were banning their staff from using the airport “over the next week”.

Near the airport, passengers carrying luggage could be seen standing on the pavement at a metro station.

The latest attack comes on the eve of Saudi Arabia’s high-profile convention and entertainment season, which begins this month.

Riyadh usually hosts a packed calendar of events, including its flagship investment conference drawing foreign leaders and business titans.

‘Moving up the escalation ladder’

In Yemen, Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas the group captured last month around the Bab al-Mandab strait, military sources told AFP.

The Yemeni government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis.

The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab al-Mandab area — a key chokepoint for Red Sea oil and cargo shipping — but claimed to have repelled them.

Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast on the ground and access for journalists difficult.

Analyst Anna Jacob of the Arab Gulf States Institute predicted the Saudis would take an even tougher tack against the Houthis in response to the recent attacks.

“One thing is for sure, we are moving up the escalation ladder in a very dangerous way,” she said. — AFP

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也门胡塞武装袭击利雅得机场，造成至少 12 人死亡，309 人受伤。

此次袭击导致机场运营暂停，并促使外国使馆建议其公民远离该地区。

也门内战于7月重燃，沙特支持的部队正在向胡塞武装推进。

利雅得，10 月 11 日——沙特阿拉伯民航官员称，昨天利雅得国际机场遭到袭击，造成至少 12 人死亡，309 人受伤——一位外交消息人士将此次袭击归咎于也门胡塞武装。

声明补充说，死者中有四名沙特公民，此外还有两名孟加拉国人、一名美国公民、一名埃及人、一名约旦人、一名叙利亚人、一名巴勒斯坦人和一名苏丹人。部分伤者伤势严重。

自 7 月份与也门利雅得支持的政府之间长期战争的停火协议破裂以来，伊朗支持的胡塞武装对沙特王国发动了前所未有的大规模袭击，目标是沙特的机场、石油设施和油轮。

沙特当局承认袭击平民目标的情况相对较少，而且航空官员也没有提及胡塞武装的名字。

外交消息人士称，此次袭击是由胡塞武装发射的导弹造成的。

沙特民航局此前表示，袭击事件发生后，规模庞大的哈立德国王国际机场暂停运营。

损失仍在评估中。

一位医疗界人士表示，此次袭击促使卫生官员启动了一项罕见的大规模医生召集计划，以应对“严重的紧急情况”。

外国使馆警告本国公民避开该机场。

“严重紧急情况”

一名乘客告诉法新社，他目睹了机场国内航站楼发生的罢工。

“我当时在403号登机口，”目击者说。“我亲眼看到401号登机口被撞，有人受伤。所有人都跑了起来。”

在利雅得袭击事件发生数小时后，沙特领导的打击也门胡塞武装的国际联盟的一位发言人在X网站上发帖称，一枚“炮弹”落在了达曼的法赫德国王国际机场附近。

然后，在周日清晨，联军表示在首都东南方向拦截了一枚导弹。

胡塞武装声称对周四针对机场的一系列袭击负责，这些袭击造成三人死亡并损坏了一架飞机，但他们并未立即对周六发生的任何新袭击负责。

两名医生告诉法新社，一些前往麦加朝圣的信徒也在伤者之列。

美国“可能”加入沙特空袭行动

也门内战在联合国斡旋的四年停火协议破裂后于7月再次爆发，而此时，席卷中东地区的更大规模战争已经持续数月，这场战争震动了整个地区，并扰乱了能源供应和市场。

沙特阿拉伯领导的国际联盟自 2015 年以来一直在军事上支持也门政府，现在却被更深地卷入其贫困邻国的冲突之中。

周六，当被问及是否改变了加入沙特对该组织发动袭击的想法时，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普表示：“我们可能会改变主意。”

“我们会调查此事，”特朗普在白宫告诉记者。“我们刚得知最近发生的袭击事件，所以我们会做出决定。”

美国媒体报道称，沙特阿拉伯此前曾请求美国提供军事援助以应对胡塞武装，但遭到拒绝。

美国、加拿大、德国和西班牙驻沙特阿拉伯大使馆呼吁本国公民避开机场。

一位西方高级外交官告诉法新社，一些大使馆表示，他们将在“接下来的一周内”禁止其工作人员使用该机场。

在机场附近，可以看到一些乘客提着行李站在地铁站的人行道上。

此次袭击事件发生在沙特阿拉伯备受瞩目的会展和娱乐季即将开始的前夕，该季将于本月拉开帷幕。

利雅得通常会举办一系列活动，其中包括吸引外国领导人和商业巨头参加的旗舰投资会议。

“逐步升级”

据法新社报道，军事消息人士透露，在也门，沙特支持的政府军正在向胡塞武装在曼德海峡附近上个月占领的地区推进。

也门政府上周宣布发起反攻，旨在夺回胡塞武装控制的所有地区。

胡塞武装证实政府军在曼德海峡地区（红海石油和货物运输的关键咽喉要道）发动了袭击，但声称已击退了政府军。

由于当地局势瞬息万变，记者难以进入现场，交战各方的说法都无法得到独立核实。

阿拉伯海湾国家研究所分析师安娜·雅各布预测，沙特阿拉伯将对胡塞武装采取更强硬的措施，以回应最近的袭击事件。

“有一点可以肯定，我们正在以非常危险的方式一步步升级局势，”她说。——法新社

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