Flights cancelled as Riyadh airport struck

The airport in the Saudi capital was attacked again on Saturday and evacuated, two regional officials said, two days after three Saudi citizens including a pilot were killed as the kingdom faces an extraordinary series of assaults in the new front in the Iran war.
More than a dozen ambulances were seen rushing to Riyadh's international airport and travellers were evacuated from parts of the facility after a loud blast was heard there, an eyewitness and people briefed on the matter said. 
At least five people were being treated in an intensive care unit in Riyadh on Saturday after being injured at the airport, a source at a hospital in the Saudi capital told a media outlet.
"Dozens of people were injured, most of them Saudi nationals. At least five of the injured -- all Saudi nationals -- are in intensive care," the source said, saying some patients were transported by helicopter.
Yemen's Houthis attacked King Khalid International Airport with a missile on Saturday, a diplomatic source told AFP, with a witness describing panic in the terminal. 
Saudi authorities did not confirm any new attack or evacuation, but one witness reported hearing an explosion while waiting to board a flight, and another said they saw a strike that left people wounded.
Saturday's incident came amid an escalation of missile strikes by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi on the kingdom. The airport has already been attacked twice this week, leaving four people dead and others wounded, and badly damaging an aircraft.
Earlier on Saturday, Riyadh airport urged passengers to check their flight status before coming -- echoing an advisory sent on Thursday, when attacks killed three people including a pilot for Saudia, the national airline.

"Please contact your airline directly and confirm your flight status before heading to the airport," read a statement posted on the airport's official X account on Saturday.
Thursday's Houthi-claimed attacks also badly damaged a grounded Saudia plane.
Meanwhile, in Yemen, Saudi-supported government forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas they captured last month around the Bab al-Mandab strait, military sources told AFP.
The Yemeni government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis, after the group seized the country's entire western coastline in a lightning offensive.
The Houthis confirmed that government forces had attacked in the Bab al-Mandab area -- a key chokepoint for Red Sea oil and cargo shipping -- but they claimed to have repelled the assault.
Claims by the warring parties have been impossible to independently verify, with the situation moving fast on the ground and access for journalists difficult.
Flight tracking site flightradar24 showed all flights to Riyadh had either been diverted or cancelled, with only a helicopter hovering over the airport at one point.
The airport urged passengers to contact their airlines directly and check their flight status before heading there.
Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways cancelled multiple flights between their respective hubs and Riyadh, with some cancellations extending into Monday.
Houthi attacks on Thursday and earlier in the week had already prompted a number of carriers to suspend or cancel services to the Saudi capital, shortly before Riyadh is due to host major energy and investment conferences.
Organisers of those conferences said on Saturday they would go ahead as planned, and they sought to reassure attendees of their security.
The Houthis have said airliners should avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it a zone of military operations after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive against the group earlier this month.

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