Airline pilot among 3 killed in Houthi attacks at Saudi capital's main airport

3 people killed in Houthi attack on main airport in Riyadh, Saudi officials say

Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport was targeted on Thursday

An airline pilot was among three Saudi citizens killed in attacks targeting Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, the kingdom's civil aviation authority said on Friday.

The first attack on Thursday targeted airport facilities, while the second struck a Saudi aircraft, the Saudi statement said. It did not identify those responsible, though the Houthis claimed to have targeted the airport with a ballistic missile.

Several people "of different nationalities" were wounded in the attacks, the kingdom said.

Among the dead was Capt. Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, the Saudia Group said in a statement. It appeared to be the first confirmed attack on the Saudi national carrier since the new offensive began.

A separate Saudia Group statement said one of its aircraft was damaged while it was on the ground, with no passengers on board. The aviation statement also said the injuries to citizens and people of other nationalities "ranged from minor to serious."

By Friday afternoon local time, at least 124 flights to and from Riyadh were cancelled after hundreds had been cancelled a day earlier, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.

The Indian Embassy later said Air India had suspended operations through to Saturday, while the Lufthansa Group said its airlines would suspend flights to Riyadh through to Oct. 16. Pakistan International Airlines has also suspended flights to Riyadh because of the evolving situation in the Middle East, an airline spokesman said.

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace, noting the Houthis' ability to strike targets deeper inside the kingdom, including Riyadh, and a "greater focus on aviation infrastructure."

The guidance, updated Friday, adds that "recurrent missile and drone attacks, together with the activation of air-defence systems, create an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft, as well as risks associated with missile and drone overflights, interception activity and falling debris."

The attacks on Thursday were the deadliest in Saudi Arabia since the kingdom and allied forces in neighbouring Yemen launched a major military offensive against Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels last weekend.

They also marked a significant escalation on the latest front in the Iran war, which has kept oil prices and financial markets volatile. UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg was scheduled to brief the Security Council on developments in Yemen later on Friday.

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Saudi allies, including Kuwait and Pakistan, condemned the attack on the Riyadh airport. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sajjad Haider Khan of Pakistan told reporters in Islamabad that Saudi Arabia has a "legitimate right to defend its people and protect its critical infrastructure."

On Wednesday, Saudi officials said Houthi-claimed attacks on airports in Riyadh and Abha had killed three people.

The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had destroyed three rocket launch platforms used by the rebels to threaten regional security.

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The kingdom has sought support from allies, including the United States. Officials said U.S. assistance has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the latest offensive.

But President Donald Trump has shown reluctance to expand U.S. military involvement in the Middle East and, for now, has not ordered American forces to resume strikes against the rebels.

The offensive aims to retake territory the Houthis seized a month ago along Yemen's western Red Sea coast and the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Their presence there threatens a crucial alternative shipping route to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks on ships have curtailed traffic.

Mohamed al-Jaber, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, in a posting on X on Friday claimed that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait had been "cleansed" from Houthi remnants. He didn't provide further details.

Residents in Yemen's capital of Sanaa heard heavy explosions overnight into Friday as intense fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces continued.

Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said on X that two of the overnight strikes on Sanaa by the Saudi-led coalition injured six people, including a child.

Saudi authorities have not confirmed the strikes on Sanaa.

Houthi supporters rally to show support to the movement in Sanaa, Yemen, on Friday. (Mohammed al-Mahdi/Reuters)

Protesters gathered in several Houthi-held cities in Yemen on Friday to denounce Saudi Arabia and its backers.

Years of fighting in what amounted to a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran has caused widespread hunger and misery in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country.

Houthi rebels swept down from their northern stronghold and seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 on the side of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, with the United Arab Emirates in 2019 beginning a drawback of its military's participation in that coalition.

The war killed more than 150,000 people, including fighters and civilians, and created one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters.

A ceasefire struck in 2022 was largely honoured until this summer.