Saudi authorities suspended operations at Riyadh's international airport on Saturday after a fresh attack there left multiple people wounded. The situation prompted health officials to activate a rare mass call-up of doctors to deal with the "serious emergency", a medical source said, while foreign embassies warned their citizens to avoid the facility. The Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed an attack had injured several people at the sprawling King Khalid International Airport, with a diplomatic source attributing it to a missile fired by Yemen's Houthis.
The Iran-backed group has repeatedly targeted the facility, claiming a series of strikes on Thursday that killed three people and damaged a plane, though they did not announce any new attacks on Saturday. Read moreDiplomats take shelter in Saudi capital as Yemen's Houthis target Riyadh airport A witness at the airport reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded and fleeing in panic. "I was on gate 403" at the domestic terminal, the witness told AFP.
"I saw 401 hit, I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running." A medical source told that the health ministry had ordered ER doctors to report to hospitals around the capital to treat the wounded on Saturday. "We were told we are dealing with a 'serious emergency situation'.
Injured are being moved to hospitals across Riyadh", with many in critical condition, the source said. The Houthis have repeatedly attacked Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers after a truce in their long-running war with Yemen's Riyadh-backed government unravelled in July. Houthis claim new attack on Riyadh airport as fighting continues in Yemen To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement.
One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Admissions by Saudi authorities of strikes hitting civilian targets are relatively rare, with officials issuing few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks.
The aviation authority said the number of injured from Saturday's attack was still being assessed, adding airport "operations had been temporarily suspended pending the completion of an assessment of the damage and verification of the safety of the facilities". A source at a local hospital said five people were in intensive care there after being wounded at the airport, with "dozens of people injured" in all. A relative of one wounded person said they had been hit in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass.
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