Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport came under fire for a third consecutive day this week, as Yemen's Houthi movement pressed a bombardment campaign that Saudi officials call the worst assault on the kingdom in more than a decade. The strikes have killed at least 16 people since Thursday, wounded hundreds more and forced the kingdom's main gateway to suspend flights through October 17.
The deadliest single strike came before dawn on Saturday, October 10, when a missile hit a passenger terminal at King Khalid airport. Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation put the toll at 12 dead and more than 300 wounded, among them four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and citizens of the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt. A separate strike on Thursday had already killed three people, including a pilot, and a follow-up attack on Sunday killed one more person and injured eleven, according to NBC News.
The Houthis claimed the Saturday attack directly; the group's media office said on social media that it had "shut down Riyadh international airport." Saudi Arabia, its coalition partners and Washington have blamed the Houthis for the string of strikes, which began days after Yemen's internationally recognized government launched a new offensive against the group and the Houthis responded by declaring Saudi airspace outside Mecca and Medina a military target zone, according to Al Jazeera.
A Kingdom's Defenses Questioned
Saudi officials are now investigating why the kingdom's air-defense network failed to intercept the Saturday missile, after the threat-warning system stayed silent before impact. The Saudi-led military coalition's spokesman, Major General Turki al-Malki, called the strike a "fully-fledged war crime" and vowed the coalition would "respond decisively" under international humanitarian law.
Condemnation has come from across the region and beyond. Qatar called the attack "a grave violation of Saudi Arabia's sovereignty and a direct threat to regional security." Egypt voiced "strong condemnation," and Jordan and Oman expressed solidarity with Riyadh. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the strikes were "a violation of international law" and demanded they "cease immediately." Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney described the attacks as "abhorrent."
Washington Weighs Its Options
The escalation has put the Trump administration under pressure to act. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pressed President Trump as early as September to take military action against the Houthis, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News, and the kingdom's request has gained urgency with each new strike.
Trump has so far stopped short of a commitment. Asked by reporters whether the United States would join Saudi operations against the group, he said:
We may. We're gonna look at it. We just found out about the recent attack. So we'll make a decision. We move very quickly.
President Donald Trump
Trump also said Houthi representatives had reached out to say they "don't want to fight with us" and would prefer Washington stay out of the conflict. The U.S. military ran a three-month bombing campaign against the Houthis last year aimed at stopping attacks on Red Sea shipping, and a renewed intervention would mark a return to direct confrontation with the Iran-aligned group. Fawaz Gerges, a professor at the London School of Economics, cautioned that "there is a military solution to the Yemeni conflict" is doubtful, adding that "the Houthis are determined to fight to the end." Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a retired political scientist in the United Arab Emirates, suggested Washington could help through intelligence-sharing and air-defense support without going "all out" against the group, and called on Turkey and Pakistan — both signatories with Saudi Arabia to a joint defense pact signed in Mecca in August — to contribute as well.
For now, airlines including Delta have pushed back Riyadh service, and the General Authority of Civil Aviation has extended the airport's suspension through October 17. Saudi Arabia's broader economic ambitions, including the kingdom's diversification push away from oil, are increasingly shadowed by a war that shows no sign of abating.
