Riyadh airport stays closed as regulator extends suspension

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation extended the suspension of operations at Riyadh’s main airport on Monday, keeping King Khalid International Airport closed as safety checks continued and no reopening date was announced. The regulator’s decision came as governments across the region weighed their responses to two Houthi attacks that killed 14 people at the airport over the weekend, and as calls mounted for a more coordinated Gulf security framework.

The deadliest of the two strikes took place on Saturday, killing 13 people and wounding more than 300, according to Saudi authorities. The toll initially stood at 12 before rising when an injured Indian citizen died on Sunday. A separate attack on Sunday killed a Pakistani national and injured 11 others. Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility for both.

The closure has had immediate consequences for air traffic. Almost all scheduled flights at the airport were cancelled on Sunday, according to data from the aviation analytics company Cirium. Air France and KLM have suspended flights to Riyadh through 31 October, while Lufthansa Group’s cancellations run through Friday.

It was against this backdrop that Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the UAE president, called on Monday for stronger Gulf security and defence cooperation. Writing on X, Gargash argued that attacks on Saudi Arabia undermined the security of the Emirates and of every other Gulf state, warning that “we are all targeted” and that failures in collective defence had encouraged attacks on the region. “Gulf security is a shared responsibility that allows no room for complacency or delay,” he said.

Regional and international governments have been lining up behind Riyadh. Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan joined Saudi Arabia in a joint statement on Sunday condemning the attacks and backing the kingdom’s right to defend itself. The three countries supported Saudi measures to counter the attacks and prevent their recurrence, provided those measures complied with the UN Charter and international law. They also demanded an immediate and unconditional end to Houthi attacks and held the group responsible for the consequences. Ankara, Cairo and Islamabad did not announce any new military deployment.

France, too, said on Sunday it would continue supporting the Gulf kingdom in defending its territory and infrastructure. The French foreign ministry noted that a French woman was among those wounded in Saturday’s attack.

Iran, meanwhile, positioned itself as a potential intermediary. Its foreign ministry said on Monday it remained ready to help mediate between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis. Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said the Iranian and Saudi foreign ministers had discussed developments by telephone on Sunday.

The accountability question extended beyond security to energy governance. Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, speaking at the International Energy Forum’s ministerial meeting in Riyadh on Sunday, warned that the wider regional conflict had caused “by far, the world’s worst energy crisis”, disrupting the flow of around 20% of global oil and gas supplies. Al-Kaabi, who also heads QatarEnergy, said attacks on energy facilities across the region had caused tens of billions of dollars in damage and severe volatility in global markets. He urged the forum to examine ways to protect energy infrastructure during conflict and safeguard supply flows. “Energy security must unite us, not divide us. It must be protected, not weaponized,” he said. He also expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and offered condolences to the families of those killed.

On the military side, the Saudi-led coalition said on Monday it was responding to a drone and cruise-missile threat against the kingdom, though its statement did not identify intended targets or report any damage.

The conflict continued to exact costs inside Yemen itself. The Houthi-run health ministry said airstrikes on the capital Sana’a around midnight killed one person and wounded 12. The Houthis blamed Saudi Arabia, which did not immediately comment.

Taken together, the weekend’s events have placed the region’s collective security arrangements, and the obligations that come with them, squarely on the agenda of governments from Abu Dhabi to Ankara. Riyadh’s own oversight bodies are still assessing when normal operations at the kingdom’s main airport can resume, and no authority has yet set a date.