Verified footage captures Riyadh airport strike aftermathpublished at 11:46 BST

11:46 BST

By Benedict Garman and Sherie Ryder

BBC Verify has checked four videos showing the aftermath of the attack on King Khalid International Airport.

The clips show a smoke plume rising over the airport building, a man walking among damage, dust and debris, a passenger walking between gates as sirens blare and emergency vehicles at the terminal entrance with people gathered nearby. At least one appears to have blood on his clothes.

But footage of a strike at Dubai International Airport earlier in the year is also circulating on social media misleadingly claiming it shows the Riyadh strike.

A video of an explosion near an airport entrance and another showing a terminal filled with dust and debris are old videos of a previous attack that have been online for weeks.

As fighting between the Saudi-backed Yemen government and the Houthi rebel is intensifying.

But why does this matter to the rest of the world?

Radio 4's The Briefing Room, featuring BBC senior international investigations correspondent Nawal Al-Maghafi and our security correspondent Frank Gardner, has tackled that question.

You can listen back to the programme on BBC Radio 4.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Who are the Houthis?

The Houthis are an Iran-backed armed political and Shia Muslim religious group from northern Yemen. They align themselves with the Iran-led "axis of resistance" against Israel, the US and the wider West - along with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

They emerged in the 1990s, and are led by Abdul Malik al-Houthi. They want to topple the internationally-backed government of Yemen.

The group now controls somewhere between a quarter and a third of Yemen's territory and 70-80% of its population.

Why are they fighting Saudi Arabia?

Saudi Arabia is a rival of Iran. It feared that the Houthis would take Yemen over and make it an Iranian satellite state.

So, in 2015 it formed a coalition of Arab countries - supported by the US - that intervened on behalf of Yemen's internationally-recognised government.

Over years, Saudi Arabia has launched air strikes and the Houthis have sent drones and missiles, but the Saudis have been unable to dislodge the Houthis from most of the territory they've seized. Fighting has led to a major humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

Why has fighting escalated?

An informal ceasefire had been in place between the the Saudi-led coalition (which backs the internationally recognised Yemeni government) and the Houthi movement since March 2022.

It's since degraded. After the 7 October 2023 attacks by Hamas, the Houthis began firing drones and missiles at Israel. The group said it was in support of Palestinians.

In July, the Houthis announced a "maritime embargo" against Saudi Arabia, renewing missile and drone attacks on its ports and oil sites.

They said they were retaliating for what the Houthis say is a years-long Saudi blockade, and for an air strike on Sanaa airport.

It's flared up further in recent weeks, after the rebel group seized large stretches of the Red Sea coast in a surprise September attack. Saudi Arabia launched air strikes in response.

Image source, Reuters

The prime minister of Iraq's office has issued a statement condemning the attack on the King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

The attack resulted in an "undermining of regional security and stability", it says in a statement from the armed forces spokesperson.

It says Iraq "rejects any escalation in military action and acts of aggression", because it "further entrenches disputes and has negative repercussions for peace".

"Iraq has consistently supported dialogue and understanding as an alternative to military or violent action", it says.

Image source, Reuters

Saturday's attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh is the latest in a spate of attacks on Saudi Arabia.

On 8 October, the same airport was subject to two attacks that killed three Saudi Arabian nationals, the civil aviation authority said.

It added that the first attack on Thursday targeted the airport while the second had struck an aircraft belonging to state carrier Saudia. Yemen's Houthi group said it attacked the airport with cruise missiles.

There were also attacks at two other Saudi airports on the 6 and 7 October.

Two were killed and 28 wounded in an attack at Abha International Airport, the civil aviation body said on Wednesday. Another person was killed at King Khalid airport in Riyadh. Authorities did not confirm which attack took place on which day.

Not since the mid-2000s has Saudi Arabia faced such a serious threatpublished at 10:08 BST

10:08 BST

Frank Gardner
Security correspondent

Saudi Arabia wasn’t ready for this.

The Houthis’ attacks over the past few days have hit the country’s critical infrastructure in the form of the capital’s main airport, apparently penetrating Saudi air defences with ease.

The physical damage can be quickly repaired, but the country’s reputation as a safe haven of stability is taking a battering.

Not since the al-Qaeda insurgency of the mid-2000s has the kingdom faced such a serious threat. The Saudi government overcame that challenge through an effective hearts-and-minds campaign.

Then it weathered the Arab Spring uprisings around the region which saw off leaders in Tunisia, Libya, Egypt and Yemen. It even shrugged off - with some annoyance - an Iranian ballistic missile attack on Riyadh in March.

But this is different. Saudi Arabia may have one of the most powerful air forces in the Middle East - it has been carrying out devastating air strikes on Houthi positions - but the Houthis know exactly where to hit back: at the soft underbelly of the Saudi economy.

From Jizan on the Red Sea to the petrochemical complex at Khurais, the Iran-backed Houthis are delivering explosive drones and missiles with deadly accuracy.

This war now looks like it will intensify before it ends in another shaky truce.

Image source, Getty Images

Some more reaction now from leaders across Europe.

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says the attack "marks a dangerous escalation".

In a post on X, she adds: "We stand in solidarity with Saudi Arabia and its people."

UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband says he is "appalled" by the attack, adding "we stand in solidarity with those affected".

He advises British nationals to avoid the airport and follow the government's travel advice, external and that of Saudi authorities.

UK Defence Secretary Wes Streeting says the UK is already supporting Saudi Arabia with air-to-air refuelling support.

Asked on BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme if the UK's support could go further following last night's deadly attack, he says "potentially".

Streeting added that in the context of Houthi attacks and an escalation, the attack last night on a civilian target "cannot be justified under any circumstances".

When pushed on whether the UK would get involved in offensive operations - as President Donald Trump has suggested the US may do - he says that is "not what we're looking at at this stage".

"We've always been clear that there isn't a military solution to this conflict," the defence secretary adds.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

Multiple countries and world leaders have condemned Saturday's attack on Riyadh's international airport.

Secretary General of the United Nations António Guterres says he is "deeply shocked" at the attacks, which he calls "a violation of international law".

The Prime Minister of Pakistan Shehbaz Sharif condemns the "heinous attack" and calls it a "serious threat to regional peace and stability".

Egypt says it "stands firmly" with Saudi Arabia, expressing "strong condemnation" for the "continued attacks on the territory".

While Qatar calls the attack "a grave violation of Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and a direct threat to regional security" and the "safety of civilians". It adds that "the security of Saudi Arabia is an integral part of Qatar's security", and "collective" security system of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) - a regional alliance of six Arab nations.

An energy conference being hosted close to King Khalid International Airport is set to go ahead despite Saturday's deadly attack.

The WPC Energy conference, which will run from today until 15 October, posted on X "the stage is set. Riyadh is ready."

The energy ministry in Saudi Arabia said "today, the events of the World Petroleum Conference kick off in Riyadh".

Yemen's Houthis have issued a new warning to all airline companies to not use Saudi airports.

In a statement put out by the group's military spokesman, Yahya Saree, the Iran-backed group "reiterate their warning... against using Saudi airports and airspace".

This is because "they are potential targets and sites for operations by our forces".

Saree says that Mecca and Medina are excepted from this.

The armed political and religious group from northern Yemen urges "everyone to take our warnings seriously", and says that Saudi Arabia "bears responsibility" for failed attempts at interception.

Image source, Getty Images

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio strongly condemned recent attacks on Saudi Arabia as he confirmed an American citizen was killed in the strikes.

Later, US President Donald Trump was asked whether the US planned to join Saudi Arabia in carrying out strikes against the Houthis.

He said: "We may. We're going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we'll make a decision. We move very quickly."

Jon Donnison
Middle East correspondent

In the Saudi capital, hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties.

Smoke billowed above the airport terminal and inside there was widespread damage.

This is the deadliest single attack on a Gulf Arab country since the war between Israel, the United states and Iran began in February.

The civil war in Yemen between the Houthis and the Saudi backed internationally recognised government has been going on for more than a decade.

But in recent weeks The Houthis which are supported by Iran have stepped up attacks against Saudi Arabia. President Trump called the attack terrible and said the US may now intervene.

It comes amid fears that the US and Israel might be about to resume strikes against Iran.

Efforts to secure a deal to end that conflict, which has sent shockwaves through the global economy, have come to nothing.

The Houthis have not commented since Saturday's attack but did say they were behind separate strikes on the same airport on Thursday that killed three people and damaged a plane.

Matt Spivey
Live editor

At least 12 people have been killed and 309 injured in Saturday's attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Four Saudi nationals, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt are among the dead, the Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed.

The authority added that some of the injured were "in critical condition".

A Saudi-led military coalition later vowed to respond to the attack, which it called a "war crime" and blamed on Yemen's Houthis.

The attack was the deadliest in the kingdom since May 2015.