Health Minister Fahad Al-Jalajel visits survivors, including a UAE-based teacher, following successive Houthi strikes on King Khalid International Airport
RIYADH, Oct. 12 : Saudi Arabia’s leadership will provide complete medical treatment and ensure the completion of pilgrimage plans for an educator based in the United Arab Emirates who was wounded during cross-border strikes on King Khalid International Airport, officials announced on Monday.
Saudi Health Minister Fahad Al-Jalajel toured hospitals across the capital to review emergency care provided to civilians injured in missile and drone strikes targeting King Khalid International Airport.
Among those receiving care is a UAE-based teacher who was transiting through Riyadh en route to Mecca for Umrah when shrapnel struck the terminal building on Saturday. Video footage broadcast by state-run channel Al Ekhbariya showed Al-Jalajel consoling the educator and her companion, confirming that King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered authorities to cover all medical expenses and facilitate their journey to Islam’s holiest sites once cleared by doctors.
“You had no role in what occurred,” Al-Jalajel told the patient during a bedside briefing. “The leadership has instructed us to ensure your complete recovery and assist your pilgrimage.”
The minister also visited Raham Yassine Ahmed, a Sudanese flight attendant who sustained injuries during the primary terminal detonation. Doctors reported that Ahmed and dozens of other commercial crew members remain under close medical observation.
The official death toll from the airport attacks reached 14 following confirmation from the Indian Embassy in Riyadh that an Indian expatriate succumbed to shrapnel wounds on Sunday. Ten other Indian nationals remain hospitalised across the capital, consular officials confirmed, adding that procedures to repatriate the deceased worker’s remains are underway.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) stated that 309 individuals sustained injuries during Saturday’s ballistic missile impact. Fatalities from that initial barrage comprise four Saudi nationals and nine foreign residents, including citizens of Bangladesh, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Sudan, Syria, the United States, and India.
Operations at King Khalid International Airport remained frozen after a separate projectile slammed into a domestic passenger terminal on Sunday, killing a Pakistani national and injuring 11 others. Coalition officials confirmed the hub has been targeted four times across five days. Regional aviation authorities in the Eastern Province are simultaneously evaluating minor structural damage reported at King Fahd International Airport in Dammam following intercept debris.
Yemen’s Houthi movement claimed responsibility for the strikes, stating its fighters launched a volley of cruise missiles and armed drones toward civil aviation hubs across Saudi Arabia.
Major General Turki Al-Maliki, spokesperson for the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, condemned the terminal bombardments as blatant violations of international humanitarian law. In a statement released via the Saudi Press Agency, Al-Maliki reiterated that coalition forces maintain the legal right to neutralize cross-border launch sites in accordance with global conventions protecting non-combatants.
