Houthi missile on Riyadh airport, 5 injured and airport closed

The loud boom of the explosion, the evacuation alarm, the comings and goings of ambulances and helicopters: the Houthi offensive strikes hard at Riyadh airport, the target of what has been identified as a missile by a diplomatic source to AFP. Dozens of injured are reported, at least five in intensive care, while scenes of panic characterized the afternoon at the airport, which has been in the sights of the Yemeni rebels for weeks. An escalation that has prompted the Italian Foreign Ministry to recommend that its citizens avoid non-essential travel to the airport area and to use the airport, in a similar appeal to that of other Western countries such as Germany, Spain and Canada. And it has led American President Donald Trump to reopen the possibility of intervening alongside the Saudis: "We will make a decision," said the tycoon. Only after several hours of silence, the Saudi authority for civil aviation confirmed the attack, reporting that it had caused "a number of injuries" and that operations at the airport had been temporarily suspended pending the assessment of damage and verification of the safety of the facilities. In the meantime, the attack had already brought chaos to the airport with cancellations, delays and panic. According to Saudi officials cited by the Wall Street Journal, the attack directly hit Terminal 3 of King Khalid International Airport, which was evacuated. Several ambulances and some helicopters were sent to pick up the injured and transport them to King Fahad Hospital in Riyadh, said one of the officials cited by the US newspaper, which verified the authenticity of a video showing traces of blood on the airport floor. "I was at gate 403" of the domestic flights terminal, the witness told AFP. "I saw gate 401 hit and people injured before my eyes. Everyone was running." Following the latest attack, several Western embassies "have indicated that they have decided to ban their staff from traveling to or from Riyadh airport during the coming week, as a precautionary measure," a senior diplomat told AFP. The scale and frequency of recent attacks against Riyadh has in fact reached unprecedented levels: on Thursday the airport had already been hit by lethal attacks claimed by the Houthis, who are also engaged in a ground clash with government forces around contested areas near the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a vital passage for global commercial traffic. According to Trump's words, the increase in tensions could push the United States to review their position on the conflict, after the tycoon had denied his help to Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in order not to open a second war front before the Midterm elections. Meanwhile, the continuous attacks on Riyadh's airports and some cities in southern Saudi Arabia threaten to suffocate business travel and tourism just as the intense season of conferences and travel begins, the Wall Street Journal recalls. An important test will come with the Future Investment Initiative summit, the kingdom's flagship event, which is expected to attract thousands of global executives and investors to Riyadh at the end of this month. Reproduction reserved © Copyright ANSA