Two people, including an Indian national, were killed and eight others injured on Wednesday evening when Yemen's Houthi rebels struck King Fahd International Airport at Dammam in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, in the latest escalation of a campaign targeting the kingdom's airports and energy infrastructure.
The deceased Indian national has been identified as Kamlesh Pandey, a 37-year-old airport ground staff member from Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh. He was on duty at the airport, which serves Dammam — the capital of Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province — when the drone and missile attack hit on the night of October 21. Two other Indian nationals were injured in the same strike.
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said the airport was targeted on Wednesday evening and that the injured were rushed to hospital, where they are undergoing treatment. The authority reported property damage, the extent of which was still being assessed, but confirmed that airport operations and air traffic had returned to normal after brief disruptions.
The Indian Embassy in Riyadh confirmed the death on Thursday in a social media post. "Saudi authorities have informed that one Indian national was among two people who unfortunately lost their lives in the attack on Dammam airport yesterday night and two Indian nationals were injured," the embassy wrote. "We are ascertaining further details and contacting the affected families. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and loved ones of the deceased and we wish speedy recovery of the injured."
New Delhi strongly condemned the continuing strikes on civilian and energy infrastructure in the kingdom. The Ministry of External Affairs called the attacks "completely unacceptable" and demanded that they cease immediately, while stopping short of directly naming the Houthis.
"We stand in solidarity with the people and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in safeguarding its sovereignty, and hope that peace and normalcy would return to the region at the earliest," said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
The embassy has issued advisories urging Indian nationals in Saudi Arabia to remain alert, follow instructions issued by local authorities, and take shelter indoors during aerial attacks. It has also shared 24x7 control-room helpline numbers in Riyadh and Jeddah, with telephone, toll-free, and WhatsApp lines for emergency assistance.
The Houthis, who control northern and northwestern Yemen including the capital Sana'a, said they launched missile and drone attacks at the Saudi Ministry of Defence in Riyadh and the Dammam airport, and also struck a facility of Aramco, Saudi Arabia's state-owned petroleum and natural gas company, at Yanbu, along with Abha International Airport in the southwest.
Announcing the strikes through the Houthi-aligned Almasirah television, the militants warned that if Saudi Arabia continues to attack Yemen, "we will resort to major options we did not want to take, and we hold it responsible for the consequences."
On Thursday, the Houthis said their operations would continue: "There will be siege for siege and escalation for escalation," they said, adding that the strikes would go on until Saudi Arabia lifts its blockade of Houthi-held areas of Yemen.
Separately, the Houthis claimed that Saudi forces had struck a yacht carrying 14 Indian nationals near Zuqar Island in the southern Red Sea, about 100 kilometres north of the strategically important Strait of Bab al-Mandeb. Yahya Saree, the Houthis' military spokesperson, said on social media on Thursday that the militia was conducting rescue operations for those on board.
India's diplomatic mission in Yemen said it was ascertaining details about the incident and would provide all assistance to the Indians.
The Dammam attack is part of a wider wave of strikes that has already claimed another Indian life this month. Earlier, Mohammed Yusef, a 37-year-old IT professional from Hyderabad, was killed in an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on October 11. He had been travelling with his wife and three children for Umrah, and five other Indian citizens were injured in that attack.
On Wednesday, a drone targeting Saudi Aramco's Shaybah oil field on the northern edge of the Rub' Al-Khali desert was intercepted and destroyed by the Saudi air-defence system. But the falling debris and shrapnel from the intercepted drone fell near the facility, killing two workers — a Filipino and a Nepali — and injuring an Indian and a Pakistani.
The disruptions have stranded thousands of Indian pilgrims. Nearly 4,000 Indian Umrah pilgrims have been stuck in Medina, Jeddah, and Mecca for two to three weeks, according to AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi, after flight suspensions, diversions, and cancellations hit civil aviation in the kingdom, particularly in Riyadh and Dammam. He urged India's aviation regulator to allow IndiGo, Akasa Air, and Air India to deploy larger aircraft to bring them home.
The MEA said the Embassy in Riyadh and the Consulate in Jeddah were actively engaging with airlines and tour operators to facilitate the early return of affected pilgrims. "Over the past week, about 3,000 stranded Umrah pilgrims have travelled from Saudi Arabia back to India on available flights. This is in addition to more than 10,000 normal Umrah pilgrims who were booked on the available flights and have travelled back to India over the past week," Jaiswal said.
Community volunteers are extending welfare assistance alongside the mission, he added.
The United States has also responded to the deteriorating security situation. The US State Department ordered the departure of non-emergency government employees and their family members from Saudi Arabia, citing security concerns, and the US embassy in Riyadh issued a security alert about possible further Houthi attacks.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the Iran-backed Houthis had increasingly engaged in hostilities against Saudi Arabia, including attacks on civilian airports and other critical infrastructure, resulting in civilian casualties and travel disruptions.
Saudi Arabia is home to approximately 2.75 million Indian nationals, including migrant workers, professionals, businesspeople, and religious pilgrims who visit for Haj and Umrah — making them one of the largest foreign communities in the kingdom and directly exposed to the widening conflict.
Riyadh began bombing Yemen in March 2015, a few months after the Houthis captured Sana'a. In 2022, Saudi Arabia and the Houthi leadership agreed to a ceasefire as part of a broader Iran-Saudi rapprochement, but the truce collapsed in July this year, in the midst of the US-Iran war, after Saudi aircraft bombed the Sana'a airport to prevent an Iranian airliner carrying a Houthi delegation from landing.
The Houthis then began attacking Saudi Arabia and launched a ground offensive against the Saudi-backed government in Yemen, while also announcing a blockade of Saudi ports in the Red Sea.
In recent weeks, the rebels have stepped up attacks against Saudi airports and energy infrastructure, while the kingdom has intensified its air strikes on Houthi-controlled parts of Yemen.
The death of Kamlesh Pandey has brought the number of Indian nationals killed in this latest wave of strikes to two — a toll that underscores how the conflict, which began as a domestic Yemeni power struggle, now reaches far beyond its borders, drawing in foreign workers, pilgrims, and regional powers alike.
(Reporting based on The Hindu and Deccan Herald.)