Saudi Arabia reports injuries in new attack at Riyadh airport, day after strike kills 13

Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis claimed responsibility for a ‌Saturday ​strike on Riyadh's international airport that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300, while Saudi authorities reported that people were injured in a new attack on the airport on Sunday. Saudi-led coalition forces in Yemen said an "unidentified projectile" had targeted Riyadh's international airport Terminal 4 on Sunday, causing a fire. An unspecified number of people were injured, the Saudi civil aviation authority said, adding it was still assessing the damage.

The coalition also ‌said Saudi air defences had intercepted a cruise missile in the vicinity of Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport. It later added that a drone had been intercepted and destroyed in the kingdom's Eastern Province. The strikes have exposed vulnerabilities in Saudi defence capabilities as the kingdom wages an air campaign against the Iran-aligned Houthis, who are fighting a ground war in Yemen against the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.

The airport has been closed since Saturday's attack, although a long-planned international energy conference went ahead in Riyadh on Sunday as planned. HOUTHIS CLAIM RESPONSIBILITY FOR OTHER ATTACKS

In a televised speech on Sunday, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya ‌Saree claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack and said the group had attacked the airport in Dammam in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province and two facilities of Saudi oil giant Saudi Aramco. The Saudi government's media office and Aramco did not respond to requests for comment.

The Saudi civil aviation ‌authority confirmed the strike on Dammam's King Fahd International Airport late on Sunday, adding that "damage assessments and safety inspections of airport facilities are under way." An eyewitness aboard a taxiing aircraft at the Dammam airport told Reuters that around 8:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) on Sunday, they saw a projectile strike the tarmac beside several parked aircraft, causing a fire. The witness said the aircraft returned to the gate, where passengers disembarked and were told to leave the airport.

Flight-tracking website Flightradar24 showed several delays and cancellations on Sunday evening for arrivals and departures at Dammam airport, which serves the capital of the oil-producing region and is the kingdom’s third-largest airport. The Houthis earlier on Sunday had renewed their warning to airlines, airport workers and travellers ⁠against using Saudi airports.

"We ​urge everyone to take our warnings seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for ⁠any failed interceptions," the group said. 'WORSE IS YET TO COME,' HOUTHIS WARN

Saudi Arabia has stepped up its military involvement in Yemen in recent weeks, launching strikes against the Houthis and backing a Yemeni government counteroffensive after the Houthis seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month. The Houthis said on Sunday that Saudi Arabia carried out 124 air ⁠strikes in Yemen in the past 24 hours, including against the capital Sanaa and the group's stronghold Saada.

Yemen's Houthi-run foreign ministry said that further Saudi military action in Yemen would trigger a stronger response, adding that its actions would be guided by the principle of reciprocity. "Unless the Saudi enemy stops its aggression and interference in ​Yemen, worse is yet to come, God willing," the ministry said in statements carried by Houthi-run Al Masirah television.

US President Donald Trump said on Saturday the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis in the conflict, a spillover from the ⁠wider war with Iran that the US and Israel launched in February. INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONFERENCE STILL GOING AHEAD

A five-day conference of international energy organization WPC Energy opened as planned on Sunday at a convention centre about 10 km (6 miles) from the Riyadh airport, the Saudi energy ministry said. A ministerial meeting of the International Energy Forum also went ahead on Sunday, with its ⁠plenary ​session to be held behind closed doors, according to a media advisory from the ministry. No further details were immediately available and it was not clear which ministers joined the meeting.

Italy's energy minister, Gilberto Pichetto Fratin, whose country was co-hosting the event, had said on Friday he would participate remotely via video link. German officials were trying to organise a return flight for economy minister katherina Reiche, who was in Riyadh to attend the WPC conference and ministers' meeting.

She was supposed to return to Berlin on Monday but the ministry said it appeared likely that her flight ⁠would not be able to take off due to the airport's closure, and alternatives were being considered. Separately, Saudi authorities notified parents that in-person classes at all schools in Riyadh would be suspended and shifted to remote learning from Sunday until Thursday for all students, teachers and administrative ⁠staff.

In Saturday's attack, the third on Riyadh's airport in a week, the dead ⁠included four Saudis and two Bangladeshis, as well as nationals of the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, Saudi authorities said. India's embassy in Riyadh said on Sunday one of its citizens injured in the attack had died, adding to the initial death toll of 12. Four people were killed in the two previous attacks on the airport earlier in the week. One of the attacks also caused heavy damage ‌to a Saudi commercial plane parked on the ‌tarmac.