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An unidentified projectile struck a terminal at Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Sunday and started a fire, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Houthis said, a day after a deadly attack on the same airport that Saudi authorities have tied to the Iran-backed group.
Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki said the projectile hit Terminal 4. He added that air defenses also “intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile” near the airport.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) later said the airport “was subjected to a new attack on Sunday afternoon” that “resulted in injuries.”
The authority said the assessment of the damage and verification of the safety of the facilities were still under way.
The Houthis said on Sunday they had targeted Riyadh’s airport several times, as well as Saudi energy facilities.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group “carried out four qualitative operations in the past 24 hours using ballistic and cruise missiles and drones.”
Saree said the targets included the Riyadh airport multiple times, the Dammam airport and two facilities belonging to the Saudi state oil company Aramco.
The incident came less than 24 hours after a missile struck a passenger terminal at the airport on Saturday. Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) later put the toll from that attack at 12 dead and 309 wounded.
Four of the dead were Saudi citizens and eight were foreign residents, including two Bangladeshis and citizens of the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan.
Flights at the airport were suspended for several hours after Saturday’s strike.
Kuwait Airways, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways canceled services to the Saudi capital, and the U.S. Mission in Saudi Arabia and Canada’s embassy urged their citizens to avoid the airport.
Saturday’s attack was at least the third on the facility within a week. Earlier strikes between Oct. 6 and 8 killed four people, including a pilot, injured several others and damaged a Saudia aircraft. The Houthis claimed responsibility for those attacks.
The group has declared Saudi airspace a zone of military operations and warned airlines to avoid it, saying its attacks are retaliation for an offensive launched earlier this month by Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
On Saturday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Washington “may” join the Saudi campaign against the Houthis, adding that a decision would come quickly.
Yemen has been in civil war since the Houthis took control of the capital, Sanaa, and other provinces in September 2014. A Saudi-led Arab coalition has backed the internationally recognized Yemeni government since March 2015. Organizers of energy and investment conferences due to be held in Riyadh said Saturday the events would go ahead as planned.
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