The international airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital was attacked again on Saturday, according to two Western diplomats briefed on the situation, as flights were once more disrupted after days of strikes by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia.
Officials did not say on Saturday evening whether there had been any casualties. But by repeatedly attacking the airport in the capital, Riyadh, this week, killing at least four people, the Houthis have struck at the heart of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plans to turn the city into a global travel and business hub.
A New York Times reporter near the airport saw backed-up traffic and several ambulances and emergency vehicles heading toward the main terminal buildings, where the police had blocked off roads.
The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, did not provide further details on the attack. There was no immediate statement from the Houthis, and Saudi officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Many flights on the approach to the airport, King Khalid International, in Riyadh, were diverted on Saturday afternoon, according to data from Flightradar24, a flight-tracking service. In a statement, the airport advised passengers to contact their airlines before heading to the terminals.
The Houthis’ attacks this week on airports in Riyadh and Abha, in the south of the kingdom, have killed and injured several people and damaged facilities, according to the Saudi authorities. Across the border in Yemen, Saudi warplanes have been waging a bombing campaign against the Houthis, and the militia has said its attacks on Saudi Arabia are retaliatory.
The escalating fighting in Yemen has increasingly drawn the kingdom deeper into the regional turmoil from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, the Houthis’ main backer.
Over the coming weeks, Riyadh was expected to host visitors from around the world for major global energy and investment conferences.
On Sunday, the city is set to open the W.P.C. Energy Congress, a major gathering of energy officials and executives.
In an email to participants late on Friday, organizers of the event said it would proceed as planned and offered alternative travel options, including coordinated flights with Saudia, the national carrier. The airline’s flights were among those diverted on Saturday, according to flight-tracking data.
Later this month, Riyadh is also expected to host the Future Investment Initiative, an annual meeting that typically draws world leaders, billionaires and top global executives.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis began to rise again in July, after the Houthis accused the kingdom of bombing the airport in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. The Saudi-backed Yemeni government claimed responsibility for that bombing, saying they were acting to prevent an unauthorized Iranian plane from landing.
The tensions escalated further as the United States and Iran struggled for control of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas shipping, and as the Houthis declared their own blockade on Saudi shipping in the Red Sea.
The Houthis seized swaths of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline last month in a lightning offensive that gave the group greater control over the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another important choke point for global trade. Backed by Saudi warplanes, Yemen’s internationally recognized government has mounted a counteroffensive in recent days to retake the territory, drawing the kingdom further into Yemen’s long civil war.
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