Missile Strike on Riyadh Airport Kills 12 and Wounds Over 300 as Trump Weighs Joining Saudi War
Saudi authorities say the dead include a U.S. citizen, the deadliest attack on a Gulf Arab state since the Iran war began. Trump says he will decide quickly whether to join strikes on the Houthis.
A missile attack on the international airport in Riyadh killed 12 people and injured more than 300 others on Saturday, Saudi civil aviation authorities said early Sunday, with some of the wounded in critical condition. It was the deadliest attack in any Gulf Arab country since the start of the Iran war, whose fronts have widened to include a surge of fighting between Iran-backed Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen.
The authorities did not assign blame in their statement. The dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals and one person each from the United States, Palestine, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Sudan. The wounded were taken to several hospitals across the capital. A regional official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief the media, said a missile struck an airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4, which handle domestic flights. There was no immediate statement from the Houthis, who sometimes take days to claim responsibility.
Shortly after the attack, President Donald Trump said he was weighing whether the United States should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis. "We may. We're going to look at it," Trump said. "We just found out about the recent attack. So we'll make a decision. We move very quickly." Officials have said U.S. help for the Saudi-led offensive has so far included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning.
The strike came in the week after a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive against the Houthis, and it was the latest of several attacks that week on King Khalid International Airport that together killed four people. Earlier in the week the Houthis claimed attacks that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. Two regional officials said Thursday's attacks damaged three planes at the airport, and the Saudi national carrier said one of its aircraft was hit on the ground with no passengers aboard.
Airport operations were suspended through midnight Saturday. The airport was ringed by police, entrances were blocked and lights around the complex were dimmed, while flights were diverted elsewhere, according to the Flightradar24 tracker. The United States, Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport. FlightAware reported that at least 291 flights at Riyadh had been canceled over the previous 24 hours, and Air India, FlyDubai, the Lufthansa Group and Pakistan International Airlines had already suspended service to Riyadh and other Saudi airports for varying periods.
The Houthis warned global airlines "for the last time" this week about operating in Saudi airspace, which they called a theater for their military operations. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency widened its guidance on Saudi airspace, citing the Houthis' ability to strike deeper inside the kingdom and a "greater focus on aviation infrastructure." It warned that the missile and drone attacks and the efforts to intercept them create an increased risk of civil aircraft being misidentified.
Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, is also running low on missile interceptors, regional officials told the AP last month. The kingdom has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for air defense support, and one official noted that U.S. stocks have also dwindled during the war with Iran. Later Saturday the coalition said a projectile fell near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and that a Houthi-launched ballistic missile was intercepted in Al-Kharj governorate, southeast of Riyadh.
The Houthis' recent gains along Yemen's Red Sea coast have given them better surveillance of shipping on a corridor that serves as a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships. The Houthis have told the AP and others they are only targeting Saudi shipping as part of a blockade imposed in retaliation for one placed on them. Hours before the attack, they accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held capital of Yemen.
Saudi authorities warned the public this week that filming or sharing information about missile and drone interceptions and impact sites exposes people to legal liability. Even so, the Saudi energy ministry was still promoting a major international energy conference due to open in Riyadh on Sunday. Saudi Arabia's foreign minister spoke by phone with his Omani counterpart on Saturday about "supporting diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions." Oman has at times acted as a mediator in the region.
