The third attack this week on Riyadh’s international airport left 12 people dead on Saturday and dozens wounded, according to three people familiar with the matter, with all flights diverted and Western governments telling citizens to avoid the area.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident but Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis have been escalating their missile strikes on Saudi Arabia, and claimed responsibility for the two earlier attacks this week.
The spate of deadly strikes have exposed vulnerabilities in the kingdom’s ability to defend itself as it wages an air campaign against the Houthis to support a ground war by the Yemeni government against the Iran-backed group.
The Saudi government’s media office did not immediately respond to questions on the incident and the casualty toll.
There has been no official toll given.
The people briefed on the matter, who include two western officials, warned that the number of dead and wounded was not a final toll. The strike occurred without warning, with no alert issued by Saudi Arabia’s threat warning system.
The wounded were evacuated to hospitals by ambulance and helicopter, with some in critical condition, the people said.
Operations at the kingdom’s busiest airport, servicing a city of around 8 million people, were temporarily suspended, the civil aviation authority said.
After the attack occurred, the Houthi military spokesperson retweeted his own post from before the attack, saying only pre-approved humanitarian flights were allowed to land at Riyadh airport, adding the words: “a reminder.”
