At least 12 people were killed and 309 wounded in an attack on Riyadh airport, the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said, as quoted by Reuters. Some of the injured were in critical condition, and the airport was damaged.
The dead included four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and one each from the United States, Jordan, Syria, Sudan and Egypt. The latest victim was a Palestinian. According to the Saudi-led coalition, passengers and airport staff were among the dead and wounded.
The coalition promised a “firm response“
The coalition's military spokesman, Turki al-Maliki, blamed the Houthis for the attack, describing it as a ”terrorist attack“ and a “war crime“. He said the target of the shelling was one of the passenger terminals at the airport in the Saudi capital.
”There will be a firm response”, the coalition said in a statement quoted by Agence France-Presse. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack. No airstrike was issued in the kingdom.
Riyadh airport is closed and does not serve flights. The attack was the deadliest in a series of Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia since the Riyadh-led coalition intervened in the war in Yemen in 2015.
Other targets also hit
Two previous attacks on Riyadh airport earlier this week killed four people and seriously damaged parked planes. The series of attacks has made Dammam airport an important alternative to the Saudi capital.
Meanwhile, the coalition said a shell had fallen near Dammam airport. It also said it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by the Houthi group southeast of Riyadh.
The Houthis control parts of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the area around the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The war in the country began in 2014, and Saudi Arabia supports government forces in the military campaign against the Iran-backed group.
US considers participation in strikes
Amid the escalation, US President Donald Trump said that Washington “very soon” will decide whether to join the campaign of airstrikes against Houthi targets.
The latest attack increases pressure on Saudi Arabia to strengthen the protection of civil aviation, while the airport in Riyadh remains out of service. So far, the coalition has not indicated when flight services will be restored.
Sources: bta.bg