‘Everyone was running’: Panic, evacuations at Riyadh airport after Houthi strike

• Houthis struck Riyadh airport with a missile on Oct 10, causing panic, evacuations and dozens of injuries, according to witnesses and a diplomatic source.
• Witnesses said people were running after an explosion at the terminal, while a hospital source said five were in intensive care and many others were hurt.
• The attack follows earlier Houthi strikes on Oct 8, as Saudi Arabia and the Houthis keep fighting and the conflict spreads across the region.

RIYADH – Yemen’s Houthis attacked Riyadh’s international airport with a missile on Oct 10, according to a diplomatic source, with dozens reported wounded and a witness describing panic at the terminal.

Saudi authorities did not confirm any new attack or evacuation, but one witness reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded.

“I was on gate 403” at the domestic terminal, the witness said. “I saw 401 hit. I saw (people) injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”

A source at a local hospital said five people were in intensive care after being wounded at the airport, saying “dozens of people were injured” in all.

The relative of one injured person said they were wounded in the shoulders and arms by shattered glass, and were taken to hospital.

Three witnesses confirmed people being evacuated from the airport.

“Houthis are attacking civilian targets. Riyadh airport is a civilian target,” the diplomatic source said, adding that the airport was hit by “a missile around 3pm” (8pm, Singapore time).

The airport was hit by deadly attacks claimed by Yemen’s Houthis on Oct 8, though the Iran-backed group did not announce any fresh strikes on the facility on Oct 10.

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.

Admissions by Saudi authorities of strikes hitting civilian targets are relatively rare, with officials issuing few statements on Houthi attacks in recent weeks.

The scale and frequency of the recent strikes targeting Riyadh are unprecedented in the eight months of war that has spread across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia leads an international coalition that supports Yemen’s government militarily, and has found itself drawn deeper into its impoverished neighbour’s civil war.

Both Riyadh and the Houthis have signalled a willingness to keep fighting rather than pursue diplomacy.

‘Contact your airline’

Earlier on Oct 10, Riyadh airport urged passengers to check their flight status before coming, echoing an advisory sent on Oct 8, when attacks killed three people, including a pilot for Saudia, the national airline.

“Please contact your airline directly and confirm your flight status before heading to the airport,” read a statement posted on the airport’s official X account.

The Houthi-claimed attacks on Oct 8 also badly damaged a grounded Saudia plane.

Meanwhile, in Yemen, Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas they captured in September around the Bab el-Mandeb strait, military sources said.

The Yemeni government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis, after the group seized Yemen’s entire western coastline in a lightning offensive.

The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab el-Mandeb area – a key chokepoint for Red Sea oil and cargo shipping – but they claimed to have repelled the assault.

Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast on the ground and access for journalists difficult. AFP