ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq – The embassies of the US, Britain, Canada, Spain, and Germany on Saturday warned citizen to avoid Riyadh’s international airport, amid reports of a new attack on the facility.

Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority on Saturday said in a statement that an attack on the King Khalid International Airport resulted in “a number of injuries, which are currently being assessed.”

“Operations at the airport have been temporarily suspended until the damage assessment is completed and the safety of the facilities is verified,” it added.

The US embassy said it is “aware of attacks … and strongly recommends all U.S. citizens avoid this airport and surrounding areas.” The mission warned of potential flight cancellations, airspace closures, and travel disruptions.

Spain, Canada, Germany, and the UK also warned their citizens against traveling through the airport.

“Following the latest attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh by the Houthis, the Spanish community residing in Saudi Arabia is advised to remain especially attentive to the situation assessment,” the Spanish embassy in Riyadh said.

The embassy urged Spanish citizens to take “extreme precaution,” avoid non-essential travel, and temporarily stay away from the airport.

The Canadian embassy meanwhile cited unspecified “military activity,” warning its citizens to avoid the airport.

Footage circulating online purportedly showed smoke rising from the airport, blood trails on the ground, and sirens as people evacuated the facility.

A diplomatic source told AFP that the facility was struck by a Houthi missile and that dozens were wounded.

All flights to Riyadh had been diverted or cancelled following the incident, according to flight tracking website flightradar24. The airport told passengers to contact their airlines directly before going to the airport.

Kuwait Airways said it cancelled two flights in and out of Riyadh “due to the closure of the airport resulting from the security situation.” Qatar and Etihad Airways had already cancelled flights to Riyadh a day earlier.

On Friday, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority announced three Saudi citizens were killed and several more wounded in strikes on Riyadh's airport the day prior.

The authority said in a statement that two separate attacks took place, one that targeted the airport's facilities and another that struck a commercial plane belonging to Saudia, the country’s national flag carrier.

The conflict between Riyadh and the Houthis had lain largely dormant since a UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022. However, the latter group blamed Saudi Arabia for an airstrike on Sanaa International Airport in July, setting in motion a chain of events that culminated in a large-scale Houthi offensive that expanded their effective control over war-wracked Yemen.

The long-range Houthi strikes come amid a counter-offensive launched by the Saudi-backed Yemeni government, seeking to dislodge the rebels from the coastline along the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, from where they have sought to impose a maritime blockade on Saudi maritime traffic through the Red Sea.

Despite Yemeni government claims that they have displaced the Houthis from the city of Mokha, the Iran-backed rebels have insisted that they are holding onto the territory they have seized.