Houthi strikes have killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300 at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, and the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority has confirmed fresh damage at King Fahd Airport in Dammam.

The authority reported late on Sunday that the Dammam attack caused damage to the airport. A renewed strike on King Khalid Airport produced further injuries. The strikes mark the most severe disruption to Saudi Arabia's air transport infrastructure since the Iran-aligned militia resumed its campaign.

The Houthis claimed four attacks inside the kingdom within 24 hours, using ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and drones. Their stated target list included the two airports, a gas plant and an oil refinery operated by state-owned Aramco.

What does this change for air travel?

The militia has warned tourists and businesspeople against flying through Saudi airports and declared the kingdom's airports and airspace "legitimate targets", with an explicit exception for Mecca and Medina. That language converts airport strikes from episodic raids into a declared targeting policy against civil aviation infrastructure.

For carriers, the practical consequences are immediate: route closures, diversions and insurance repricing across a hub set that includes one of the Gulf's largest gateways. Saudi Arabia has not yet published a figure for flight cancellations or airspace restrictions following the attacks.

The kingdom's carriers and foreign operators serving Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province now face the same category of risk assessment that reshaped operations over Iraq, Ukraine and Israel in recent years.

Casualty toll and diplomatic response

Saturday's strike on King Khalid Airport killed at least 12 people and wounded more than 300. The Houthis said Saudi Arabia had conducted more than 120 airstrikes on Sana'a and other Yemeni provinces in the same period; those claims could not be independently verified.

The so-called R4 Group — Turkey, Egypt, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — jointly condemned the attacks as a "flagrant violation of the Kingdom's sovereignty and territorial integrity." In a statement, the group called the strikes "a direct threat to its security, stability, and the safety of civilians, and it is a dangerous escalation that cannot be justified or accepted under any pretext."

Conflict background

The Houthis have fought Yemen's internationally recognized government for more than a decade. A 2022 truce largely froze the conflict but never produced a durable settlement.

Fighting has resumed against the backdrop of the wider war involving Iran, deepening Yemen's humanitarian crisis. Saudi Arabia, among the world's largest oil producers, has previously blamed the Houthis for attacks on civilian facilities and launched retaliatory strikes on rebel targets in Yemen.

With airports now declared targets and energy infrastructure struck in parallel, Gulf network planners and their insurers will be watching whether Saudi air traffic authorities impose sustained airspace closures or whether the damage at Dammam and Riyadh proves operationally recoverable in the near term.