A passenger terminal at the international airport in Saudi Arabia was attacked again on Sunday, one day after a deadly strike on the Riyadh airport killed at least 12 people, including a U.S. citizen, and wounded hundreds of others.
The second attack comes as Yemen’s Houthi group said they carried out at least four operations targeting King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh since Saturday.
Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said on Telegram that the attacks are in response to “brutal Saudi aggression against our country and our people,” CBS News partner BBC News reported. He claimed Saudi Arabia launched more than 120 airstrikes in the past 24 hours in Houthi-controlled territory in Yemen.
Saree said other targets included the Shugadam gas facility, which belongs to Saudi’s national petroleum and natural gas company Aramco, the Tanajib oil refinery, and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, the BBC reported.
Saudi’s civil aviation authority said the latest Riyadh airport attack caused injuries and that damage assessments are underway.Â
There were no immediate details about the latest strike at King Khalid Airport, which hit the same complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights.
Saturday’s strike at the airport, the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade, marked a major escalation in the war between Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis and the kingdom and further complicated sputtering efforts to halt the U.S.-Iran war.
The airport remains closed on Sunday and Saudi Arabia moved Riyadh schools online amid the Houthis’ latest threat. Flights were diverted elsewhere, the Flightradar24 tracker said. Countries including the U.S., Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport.
Earlier on Saturday, the Houthies threatened new attacks on the kingdom’s airports, except for the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, warning passengers not to travel.
“The airports and airspace are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces,” Saree wrote on X.
He urged “everyone to take our warnings seriously.”
On Sunday, the Houthis said the airport under their control in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa had been struck again. They blamed the Saudis but provided no details.
The attack on Riyadh’s airport on Saturday drew condemnation from the United Nations and world leaders, including President Trump, who said he was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis.
“The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today’s strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post.Â
A State Department spokesperson told CBS News the Trump administration is in close contact with its “Saudi partners.”Â
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the attacks by Iran’s proxies are “pushing the region into a spiral of violence.”
“They are destabilizing crucial global transport and energy nodes,” she wrote on X.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the attack on King Khalid Airport and extended his condolences.
“Terrorism targets innocent people and seeks to spread fear and instability. It must be confronted with resolve,” he said in a statement shared on X. “Israel looks forward to a strong Middle East—one that stands united against threats, protects its people, and builds a future of security, cooperation, and prosperity for all the peoples of our region.
The attack struck an airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.
The Saudi statement said the dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese. It said several hospitals were treating the 309 people injured, some in serious condition.
The Egyptian woman was a flight attendant identified as Azza Ramzy, 28, who worked for the Saudi airline Flynas, according to the Egyptian state-run Al-Qahera News television.
The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said Sunday that one of its citizens died after being wounded in the attack on the Riyadh airport a day earlier.
“It is learnt that one Indian national injured in the Riyadh attack has unfortunately lost his life today. We convey our heartfelt condolences to the family of the deceased,” the embassy wrote in a statement posted on X.
The Houthis claimed attacks earlier in the week on King Khalid International Airport that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. The airport has no military facilities.
The surge in attacks, including against other Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure, has come in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive against the Houthis.
