Saudi Arabia suspends Riyadh airport after missile wounds dozens

Saudi Arabia suspended operations at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on 10 October after a missile strike wounded dozens of people at the hub. The General Authority of Civil Aviation said the airport was targeted amid continued attacks on civilian aviation facilities in the kingdom, and that operations would remain suspended until further notice.dw.com+1

The suspension marks a new front in the conflict, coming days after earlier Houthi attacks on the same airport. The General Authority of Civil Aviation said the attack resulted in a number of injuries, which were being assessed. A Saudi official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that many people were wounded after a missile hit a passenger terminal.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

What the aviation authority confirmed

A source at a local hospital said that dozens of people had been wounded in the attack on 10 October, and that five people were in intensive care. Emergency doctors were called to hospitals across Riyadh, with the medical source telling AFP: "We were told we are dealing with a 'serious emergency situation'." Injured people were moved to hospitals across the city.theguardian.com

Witnesses described panic inside the domestic terminal. One witness said they were at gate 403 when they saw gate 401 hit, with injured people in front of them and everyone running. More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to the airport, according to an eyewitness cited. Doctors had been asked to report to hospitals to address the situation.

Airlines cancelled flights to and from Riyadh following the attack. Kuwait Airways cited the "security situation" there, while Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways cancelled multiple flights, with some cancellations extending into Monday. Air India Express suspended services until 14 October and Air India extended cancellations until 15 October. Flightradar24 showed flights diverted nearly four hours after the last flight landed at 2:05 pm local time.

Casualties and hospital response

At least 225 flights at King Khalid International Airport had been cancelled over the preceding 24 hours, according to FlightAware. The US embassy said it was "aware of attacks on King Khalid International Airport" and urged American citizens to avoid the airport and surrounding areas. The UK embassy advised British nationals to stay away, describing a "serious incident". Western embassies in Saudi Arabia had warned their citizens away from the airport.

The attack came a day after authorities said three Saudis including a pilot were killed in two attacks on the airport by the Iran-backed Houthis. Another three people were killed in Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports on 6 and 7 October. The airport has been attacked twice this week, leaving four people dead and badly damaging an aircraft.

Flights cancelled across airlines

The strikes form part of a wider escalation in Yemen's civil war. The Houthis say they are targeting Saudi Arabia over its support for government forces in Yemen. The informal truce began to unravel in July, after which the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

Fighting has intensified around the Bab al-Mandab strait, the narrowest point of the Red Sea and a chokepoint for global shipping. Forces allied to the UN-recognised Yemeni government claimed a successful offensive to retake the strait, but accounts vary on whether the push was repelled. The United Nations' special envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, told the UN security council that Yemen had lapsed back into full-scale war.