At least 12 people were killed and 50 were hurt after Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck passenger terminals in an international airport in Saudi Arabia — making it the deadliest attack since the war in Iran began in February, according to a report.

The strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was an escalation of violence by the Houthis and prompted warnings from the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh for Americans and government workers to avoid the area.

The Houthis took responsibility for the latest attack, according to The New York Times, which published a statement from senior Houthi official Mohammed al-Bukhaiti.

The Houthis conducted the strike “so that the world understands that airports, seaports, wedding and mourning halls, hospitals, and markets in Yemen are civilian facilities that must not be targeted or harmed — and that the same rules that apply to these facilities in Yemen must also apply to their counterparts everywhere else,” al-Bukhaiti said, according to The Times.

Saudi Arabia shut down the airport Saturday after the facility was rocked by the missile strike and a resulting explosion, according to multiple reports.

A diplomatic source had earlier told the Agence France-Presse the the attack was carried out by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels, the Times of Israel reported.

King Khalid International Airport was forced to evacuate after the Houthis landed a direct hit on two passenger terminals, according to the earlier reports. The damage to the facility was still being assessed late Saturday, according to The Times.

“I was on gate 403” at the domestic terminal, one witness said, according to the Times of Israel. “I saw 401 hit. I saw injured in front of my eyes. Everyone was running.”

It’s just the latest attack on the Saudi Arabian airport, according to CNN’s Matthew Chance, reporting on the incident earlier in the day:

Well, details are a bit sketchy at the moment. Fredricka, about what exactly has happened, but eyewitnesses at the scene are talking about explosion taking place at Riyadh’s international airport.

They’re talking about about a dozen ambulances have appeared at the scene.

And again, eyewitnesses reporting that there are injured people, you know, not not an exact figure being given, injured people lying down waiting for treatment as a result of that explosion.

So we’re going to keep a close eye on, on exactly what comes out in terms of details. But I can tell you that this is only the latest in a series of incidents that has affected the international airport in Riyadh.

I was there just a couple of weeks ago, and just before we arrived, there was an attack by Houthi rebels in Yemen on fuel tanks close to the airport, sending a big plume of black smoke billowing into the skies over the Saudi capital near the airport.

And then when we left a short time afterwards, the airport was shut down. We couldn’t take off. The planes were grounded for several hours because of another threat of of an incoming attack. It’s put the Saudis in a very difficult position.

Obviously, they’ve had their oil exports curbed to the east of the country through the, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz because of the Iran war.

But now the Houthi rebels who are backed by Iran are doing the same thing in the west of the country. And the red sea, striking oil pipelines, striking Saudi shipping, and also striking Saudi infrastructure like its airport.

And over the past week or so, those strikes have been escalating.

Six people killed at the airport in Saudi Arabia in the past week.

That’s not counting any potential deaths or injuries that may have occurred today. And again, we don’t have details on that yet.

Watch above via CNN.

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