India on Sunday strongly condemned repeated attacks by Houthi rebels on the international airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital, including the latest strike that killed a dozen people and injured 11 Indians , and called for an immediate end to civilian infrastructure across the region.
The Indian side also expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the defence of the country’s sovereignty against the backdrop of an escalation in attacks by Iran-backed Houthi rebels as the war in West Asia expands. This was the third attack on the King Khalid international airport over the past week. The strikes also exposed vulnerabilities in Saudi Arabia’s defence capabilities as the kingdom wages an air campaign against the Houthis to support a ground war by the Yemeni government against the group. The war turned into a stalemate, with hundreds of thousands of Yemenis killed by fighting and famine.
Later on Sunday evening, the Indian embassy in Riyadh said in a social media post that 11 Indians were among the more than 300 people injured in Saturday’s attack. Twelve people were killed and 309 others injured in Saturday’s attack on the airport in Riyadh, the deadliest in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade, as the Houthis escalated a campaign they launched in summer. Saudi Arabia entered the war in Yemen in 2015 at the head of a coalition that aimed to force the Houthis out of the Yemeni capital Sanaa. A 2022 ceasefire by the Saudis and the Houthis unravelled this summer, culminating in a sudden Houthi advance that took the Red Sea chokepoint of Bab el-Mandeb from Saudi-backed government forces.
“We strongly condemn the repeated attacks on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport over the past few days, including the dastardly attack on October 10, which have led to loss of lives, injuries and damage to property,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement that did not name anyone for the attacks. “We stand in solidarity with the people and the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in defence of their sovereignty, and hope that peace and normalcy returns to the region at the earliest,” the statement said. The dead included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshis and one national each from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and the US, the Saudi civil aviation authority said. President Donald Trump said the US is considering joining Saudi strikes on Houthis in the conflict, a spillover from the war on Iran that the US and Israel started in February.
Two earlier attacks on the same airport last week killed four people and caused extensive damage to a Saudi commercial plane.
“Our officials have also reached out to the hospital authorities. The Indian side also expressed condolences to the families of the dead and wished for the speedy recovery of the injured.
The embassy said it was in touch with Saudi authorities to inquire about the well-being of the injured Indians. We will provide further updates as they become available,” it said. The external affairs ministry statement described the repeated attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure as “completely unacceptable” and said they “must cease immediately”.
