RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia extended the closure of King Khalid International Airport on Sunday, a day after an attack on a passenger terminal killed at least 12 people and injured 309, while Yemen’s Houthis warned airlines, travelers and airport workers to stay away from Saudi airports altogether, ABC News (Australia) and BBC News reported.
The closure was extended until at least 9 p.m. local time on Sunday, according to Flightradar24 data cited by ABC. Saudi authorities said schools in the capital would stay online until the end of the week, and the Saudi embassy in Kuwait said it was organizing buses to bring citizens home after their flights were cancelled. Western embassies have told their citizens to keep away from the airport, and several Gulf airlines have cancelled flights.
“We renew our warning to all airlines, experts, employees, workers and travellers against using Saudi airports and airspace, as they are vulnerable to attack and have become a theatre of operations for our forces,” the Houthis said in a post on Sunday, exempting only the airports serving Mecca and Medina. The Houthi-run foreign ministry said further Saudi military action in Yemen would trigger a stronger response: “Unless the Saudi enemy stops its aggression and interference in Yemen, worse is yet to come,” it said in statements carried by Houthi-run Al Masirah television, according to ABC News. The Houthis also reported two air strikes on Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Sunday and blamed Saudi Arabia; there was no immediate Saudi comment.
Saturday’s strike was the deadliest attack in the kingdom since May 2015, the BBC said. The Saudi civil aviation authority said the dead included four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, and that some of the injured were in critical condition. The Saudi-led coalition blamed the Houthis and vowed to respond, with spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki calling the attack a “full-fledged war crime.” The Houthis had not commented on Saturday’s strike but claimed attacks on the same airport on Thursday that killed three people.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said he was “deeply shocked,” and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote that “attacks by Iran’s proxies are pushing the region into a spiral of violence.” Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and the United Arab Emirates also condemned the attack. President Donald Trump said Saturday the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis. The Houthi-run health ministry says coalition strikes have killed 91 Yemenis and injured 168 in five weeks of renewed fighting.
Sources: ABC News (Australia), BBC News
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