Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport in Dammam was targeted in a fresh attack on Sunday evening, hours after a projectile struck a passenger terminal at Riyadh’s international airport, escalating tensions amid a surge in Houthi attacks on the kingdom.
The Saudi civil aviation authority said the assessment of damage and verification of the safety of airport facilities were underway in coordination with the relevant authorities.
"The assessment of the damage and verification of the safety of airport facilities were still underway, in coordination with the relevant authorities," it said in a statement posted on X.
The attack on Dammam airport came a day after a deadly strike claimed by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels killed at least a dozen people and disrupted operations at a key Saudi aviation facility.
The Houthis on Sunday claimed multiple attacks over the previous 24 hours, including strikes targeting airports, and threatened to continue targeting the kingdom’s transit hubs, describing them as a “theatre of operations for our forces”.
Saudi authorities also reported that a projectile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, triggering a fire, while air defences intercepted another missile nearby. The civil aviation authority reported an unspecified number of injuries and said damage assessments were underway.
Residents in the Saudi capital reported hearing multiple blasts on Sunday. “The birds went into a frenzy after the sound. The whole house shook,” a resident of the northern Al-Aarid neighbourhood told AFP.
Saturday’s attack, described as the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade, marked a sharp escalation in the Yemen conflict, in which Riyadh backs the internationally recognised government against the Houthis.
The anti-Houthi coalition condemned the attack as a “full-fledged war crime” and vowed to respond decisively. Houthi media, meanwhile, reported two Saudi strikes in the group-controlled Sanaa governorate on Sunday.
The attacks have raised concerns over Saudi Arabia’s ability to protect critical infrastructure despite heavy military spending. Security analyst Thomas Juneau of the University of Ottawa said the kingdom’s vast territory made it difficult to consistently intercept Houthi missile and drone attacks.
Saturday’s strike drew condemnation from the United Nations and world leaders, including US President Donald Trump, who said he was considering joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also condemned the attack.
According to the Saudi civil aviation authority, the previous attack killed four Saudi nationals and citizens of Bangladesh, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. A total of 309 people were wounded.
The Indian embassy in Saudi Arabia said an Indian national who was injured in Saturday’s attack died on Sunday. A Western diplomat based in Riyadh told AFP that the official injury count might not include people with minor wounds.
(With inputs from AP, AFP)
