Three people, including a pilot, died Thursday in strikes claimed by these pro-Iranian fighters against the same airport.
“The Houthis attack civilian targets. Riyadh airport is a civilian target,” the diplomatic source told AFP, specifying that “a missile” had hit the airport “around 3 p.m.”.
“Dozens of people were injured at the airport, most of them Saudi nationals. At least five of them, all Saudi, are in intensive care,” said the medical source, adding that some injured had been evacuated from the airport to the hospital by helicopter.
“I saw injured people. Everyone was running,” said a passenger, who was waiting for a flight very close to the terminal hit by the missile.
One witness earlier said he heard an explosion while waiting to board a flight, while the other two witnesses were unable to confirm what incident had triggered the evacuation measure.
Authorities did not officially confirm the shooting and evacuation, and the Houthis did not immediately claim responsibility for strikes on the airport.
Riyadh airport had asked travelers earlier on Saturday to check with their companies whether their flight had not been canceled before going there.
He had already made a similar message on Thursday, after the strikes also damaged a plane. It was also targeted on Wednesday, causing air traffic disruptions.
According to the specialist site Flight Radar, the last commercial flight landed at the airport at 2:05 p.m. local time.
Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest crude exporter, relatively rarely acknowledges that strikes have hit civilian targets. In recent weeks, Saudi officials have made few statements about the consequences of the Houthi attacks.
Fighting in Yemen
The scale and frequency of attacks targeting Riyadh in recent days are unprecedented since the start of the Middle East war eight months ago, when Iran carried out strikes against the kingdom in response to the Israeli-American strikes at the end of February against Tehran.
These latest attacks come as Saudi Arabia provides military support to Yemeni government forces fighting the Houthis in Yemen where they are trying to retake territories they have seized since September, including the coastline on the Red Sea, following a lightning offensive.
Both sides appear determined to continue fighting rather than seek a diplomatic solution.
Military sources from the government camp in Yemen told AFP on Saturday that Yemeni forces had advanced against the Houthis in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait area, but without managing to secure this strategic sea route.
According to these sources and a Houthi official, the anti-government fighters, who took control of the strait during their lightning offensive in early September, still hold the island of Mayyoun, at the heart of the maritime passage.
“Our forces maintain control of Bab el-Mandeb, Mayyoun island and other areas” of the country’s western coast, Hizam al-Asad, a member of the Houthis’ political bureau, told AFP.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, connecting Europe to Asia via the Suez Canal, has become crucial to circumvent Tehran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, on the other side of the Arabian Peninsula.
A military source from the government camp reported on Friday a “vast operation” underway on Friday to regain control of this sea route.
The warring parties’ claims are impossible to independently verify, with the situation evolving rapidly and access for journalists difficult.
International reactions
Germany, Canada and Spain have recommended to their nationals not to travel through Riyadh airport, targeted by strikes by Yemen’s Houthis.
These recommendations were issued on Saturday by the embassies of the three countries in Saudi Arabia. France had advised its nationals against traveling to Riyadh by air on Friday, “unless there is an imperative reason”.
