Saudi Arabia is counting the cost of the deadliest strike yet on its capital’s main air hub. According to the kingdom’s civil aviation authority, Saturday’s Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh left 12 people dead and 309 injured, several of them critically. It was the third attack on the airport within a single week.
The victims came from many countries, a reminder of how international a busy Gulf airport is on any ordinary day. Four Saudi citizens died, along with travellers and workers from Bangladesh, Palestine, the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Sudan. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that an American was among those killed and called for an end to what he described as reprehensible attacks.
The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s recognised government promised a firm response. In Washington, President Donald Trump called the strike “not acceptable” and said he would speak with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He also said he was weighing whether the United States should join military action against the Houthis, a step that would widen an already tense regional picture.
Condemnation arrived quickly from across the region and beyond. Egypt, Qatar, Pakistan, Japan and the Palestinian foreign ministry all spoke out, and the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, warned that attacks on civilian airports mark a grave escalation. Yemen’s government had already written to the UN Security Council earlier in the week about a separate Houthi strike on Aden airport.
For now the key questions are practical ones. Travellers want to know whether flights through one of the Middle East’s busiest hubs remain safe. Diplomats are asking whether the strikes will pull Washington more directly into Yemen’s war. The answers to both may come within days.
