Riyadh Airport Shut Again After Reported Blast; Lufthansa, Air India Suspend Flights
King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh was shut again on Thursday after a fresh blast, witnesses told the Associated Press, with smoke rising over the airport, fire and ambulance crews on site, and departing passengers told to leave their checked luggage behind and evacuate. Reuters, citing a witness and people briefed on the matter, said smoke was seen rising from a stationary aircraft. Yemen's Houthi movement claimed a ballistic-missile hit on the airport and warned airlines against using Saudi airspace; the Saudi-led coalition said it had intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched toward Riyadh. The Houthi claim could not be independently verified, and Saudi authorities had no immediate comment on damage from Thursday's incident.
Flight tracker Flightradar24 said the airport had closed again on Thursday afternoon, going more than 80 minutes without a landing and 90 minutes without a takeoff, while scores of flights were delayed or cancelled. On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation confirmed that attacks on the Riyadh and Abha international airports on October 6-7 killed three people and injured 36, damaging facilities at both airports.
Lufthansa Group airlines said they would suspend flights to Riyadh through October 16, and Air India cancelled all flights to the Saudi capital until October 10. The airport attacks mark a rising spillover risk in the Yemen war: Saudi-backed forces are fighting to retake Red Sea coastal territory seized by the Houthis last month, while the rebels threaten Saudi civilian and energy infrastructure in response. (Compiled from AP, Reuters and Saudi civil aviation authority statements.)
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 哈立德王国际机场（资料图）/ U.S. Air Mobility Command, public domain (Wikimedia Commons)
