PM Shehbaz condemns Houthi attack on Saudi airport that killed 12, wounded over 300

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday condemned a Houthi missile attack on Saudi Arabia’s King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, in which at least 12 people were killed and over 300 injured.

Reiterating Pakistan’s commitment to Saudi Arabia’s security under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement, the prime minister maintained that targeting civilian and critical infrastructure was “completely unacceptable and [constitutes] a serious threat to regional peace and stability.

He stressed that such acts of violence, which flagrantly violate international law, must cease immediately.

Expressing solidarity with Saudi Arabia, Shehbaz reiterated Pakistan’s unwavering commitment to the kingdom’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and security, citing the joint defence agreement and the longstanding bonds of brotherhood between the two countries.

Houthis hit Riyadh airport again

The development comes after Houthis targeted, for the third time this week, Riyadh’s international airport, leaving at least 12 ​people dead and more than 300 wounded, Saudi authorities said.

The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike.

The dead included four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi civil aviation authority said. At the latest count, they said 309 were wounded.

Hospitals were flooded with wounded brought by ambulance and helicopter, people briefed on the matter said. Some were in critical condition.

Saturday’s attack occurred without warning, with no alert issued by ​Saudi Arabia’s threat warning system. This week’s two previous attacks on King Khalid International Airport left four people dead and caused heavy damage to a Saudi ​commercial plane parked on the tarmac.

This week’s deadly strikes exposed vulnerabilities in the kingdom’s self-defence capabilities as it wages an air campaign ⁠against the Houthis to support a ground war by the Yemeni government against the group.

Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government have claimed hundreds of strikes on targets ​in Houthi-held territory. The Houthis have said these killed civilians including women and children.

Also read: Houthi strikes on Riyadh airport killed three as war escalates

Reuters could not independently verify those claims.

All flights were diverted from Riyadh on Saturday, and operations at ​the airport that serves a city of roughly 8 million people were temporarily suspended, the Saudi civil aviation authority said.

The head of the Houthi media office said in a post on X after the attack that the group had “shut down Riyadh international airport”. The Houthis have said airliners should avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it a zone of military operations after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive ​against the group on Monday.

US President Donald Trump, speaking to reporters outside the White House, was asked whether Washington planned to join Saudi strikes on the Houthis.

“We may. We’re ​going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly,” he said.

EYEWITNESS SAW WOUNDED ON THE GROUND

One eyewitness at the ‌airport on ⁠Saturday reported seeing an explosion and then multiple people lying injured on the ground inside. More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing towards the facility. A video verified by Reuters showed ambulances at the airport.

An injured traveller told Reuters they saw something fly across the sky outside the airport before part of the ceiling near a departure gate collapsed.

The US embassy in Riyadh said it was “aware of attacks” and “strongly recommends all US citizens avoid this airport and surrounding areas.”

Saudi Arabia entered the Yemen war in 2015 at the ​head of an Arab coalition to try to ​force the Houthis out of the ⁠Yemeni capital Sanaa. The Houthis had stormed Sanaa the previous year, pushing out government forces.

The war was fought to a bloody stalemate, with hundreds of thousands of Yemenis killed by fighting and famine. Saudi Arabia struck a 2022 deal with the Houthis, freezing the ​conflict.

Also read: Houthis say they hit Saudi sites with missiles, drones

That ceasefire unravelled over the summer, culminating in a lightning Houthi advance that took the Red Sea chokepoint of Bab el-Mandeb ​from Saudi-backed government forces.

The ⁠Saudi-backed Yemeni government began an offensive this week to try to retake that territory, which has so far made slow gains, even as the Houthis put the country’s third-largest city, Taiz, under siege.

RIYADH DUE TO HOLD MAJOR SUMMITS

Flight-tracking site flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had either been diverted or cancelled, with only a helicopter hovering over the airport at one point.

Houthi ⁠attacks on Thursday ​and earlier in the week had already prompted a number of carriers to suspend or cancel services ​to the Saudi capital, shortly before Riyadh is due to host major energy and investment conferences.

Organizers of those conferences said on Saturday they would go ahead as planned, and they sought to reassure attendees of their security.