The Foreign Office is advising British nationals against travel to Saudi Arabia after a series of airstrikes hit airports in the country. A Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said on Sunday that a projectile struck a passenger terminal at the international airport in Riyadh, a day after a missile hit the same terminal, killing 12 people.
Travel advice updated
In an update to its travel advice, Britain's Foreign Office said it now advises against all but essential travel to the cities of Jeddah and Dammam, and to all airports in Saudi Arabia except for Medina International Airport. The Government is advising anyone who wants to leave Saudi Arabia to consider heading by land to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates or Jordan and to fly from there.
In its update, the Foreign Office urged British nationals taking this option to plan carefully and find out what the relevant entry-exit requirements are first. Saudi authorities have said one person, said to be a Pakistani national, was killed and 11 injured in an attack on the domestic terminal complex at King Khalid International Airport on Saturday.
Airport closed after deadly strike
The airport — struck four times in the past five days — has been closed since the missile attack, which was the deadliest in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began. Over 300 other people were wounded, some critically. Saudi authorities have also confirmed King Fahd International Airport in Dammam was attacked, but released few details. The city is on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar.
The strike in Riyadh came shortly after the Houthis said the airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa had been struck again, blaming the Saudis. On Sunday night the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV channel reported further Saudi-led strikes on Sanaa. Saudi Arabia has not commented.
Regional tensions escalate
The sharp escalation in the war's new front threatens to draw in the US President Donald Trump has said he is weighing up whether to join the fight against the Houthis. US intervention could prompt the Houthis to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen, further tightening the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. Rebels seized key areas along the strait last month.
At stake in the latest escalation are global oil supplies and prices as well as commercial shipping through a crucial alternative waterway to the Iran-threatened Strait of Hormuz. Civilians and aviation throughout the region are also at risk.
Early on Monday, Saudi Arabia released videos of the moment of Saturday's strike on Riyadh captured by security cameras. Footage shows people, many dressed in the white robes of Mecca-bound pilgrims, standing in line in a busy hall, while others scroll phones in a nearby seating area before a fireball erupts. People can be seen throwing themselves to the floor or running for safety.
Fighting between the Saudis and Houthis erupted in 2015, when the desert kingdom entered Yemen's civil war on behalf of the government. Relative calm after a 2022 ceasefire ended in July when the Houthis resumed attacks, saying the Saudis fired on the Sanaa airport as a plane from Iran was trying to land. The attack revived anger over the Saudi-led blockade which has largely isolated Houthi-run areas. The rebels declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia. Now the Saudi-led coalition is providing air support for Yemeni government forces attempting to reverse Houthi territorial gains.
