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King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was evacuated on Saturday after a loud blast was heard, two international news agencies reported, days after Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed attacks on the hub.
More than a dozen ambulances were seen heading to the airport, Reuters reported, citing an eyewitness. Saudi authorities have not commented. The airport advised passengers to check with their airlines before travelling.
The reported incident came a day after authorities said three Saudi nationals, including a pilot, had been killed in two Houthi attacks the previous day. Three other people were killed in Houthi attacks on two Saudi airports on 6 and 7 October.
The attacks have come amid a renewed escalation in fighting between Yemen’s Saudi-backed government forces and the Houthis, who control much of the country’s north-west. The Houthis say they are targeting Saudi Arabia because of its support for the government forces.
The conflict intensified after the Houthis captured strategically important stretches of the Red Sea coast in a rapid offensive, including the port of Mokha on the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Yemeni pro-government forces have since said they had secured the strait, a key shipping chokepoint at the southern end of the Red Sea.
A Saudi-led coalition was formed in 2015 after Arab countries joined forces to prevent the Houthis from taking over Yemen from its internationally recognised government. A temporary ceasefire was brokered in 2022 after years of air strikes and ground fighting that killed hundreds of thousands of people and fuelled one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
The informal truce began to unravel in July. The Houthis announced a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia and began missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea. They said the attacks were retaliation for what they described as a years-long Saudi blockade and an air strike on Sanaa airport.
