Houthi Missile Strike Kills 12 at Riyadh Airport

A missile attack attributed to Yemen's Houthi movement killed 12 people and injured 309 at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, October 10, according to Saudi aviation authorities. The strike forced a temporary suspension of airport operations as emergency crews responded, while President Donald Trump said the United States was considering joining Saudi military operations against the Iran-backed group.

The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority reported early Sunday that four Saudi nationals and one U.S. citizen were among the dead. Some of the 309 injured people were in critical condition, according to the authority. The attack marked a further escalation in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.

The Saudi-led coalition also reported that a projectile landed near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam. That airport has served as an alternative to Riyadh amid repeated attacks on Saudi aviation facilities.

Trump said Washington had not yet decided whether to participate in further strikes against the Houthis.

“We may. We’re going to look at it,” Trump said.

The president indicated that the decision would follow a review of the latest attack and that the administration could act quickly.

“We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly,” Trump said.

The latest assault followed two other attacks on Riyadh's airport earlier in the week, which left four people dead and others injured while severely damaging an aircraft, according to The Guardian. The repeated strikes threaten air travel and Saudi Arabia's plans to establish Riyadh as a major international business and travel hub ahead of significant events scheduled for the coming weeks, The New York Times reported.

Witnesses described panic inside the airport as passengers attempted to escape the affected area.

“I was on gate 403,” a witness at the domestic terminal told Agence France-Presse.

The witness described seeing casualties at a nearby gate as people fled the terminal.

“I saw [gate] 401 hit, I saw injured [people] in front of my eyes. Everyone was running,” the witness said.

A relative of one injured passenger told The Guardian that shattered glass had wounded the person in the shoulders and arms before they were taken to a hospital.

The airport attack came as Saudi forces intensified their campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. According to Anees al-Asbahi, a spokesman for the Houthi government-affiliated health ministry, airstrikes in Yemen had killed 91 people since September 3, mostly women and children.

The Houthis have also expanded their military activity around the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic passage connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and routes toward the Indian Ocean. The group seized control of the strait two weeks before the airport attack and said Saudi-linked commercial traffic would not be allowed through the waterway.

A Houthi spokesperson described the group's operations against forces aligned with Yemen's internationally recognized government as successful.

“were targeted with a large number of ballistic missiles, artillery support and heavy weapons, resulting in the destruction of more than 22 armoured vehicles and the killing and wounding of dozens, including a number of commanders,” the Houthi spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also described the response to casualties among the Saudi-backed forces.

“More than 30 ambulances arrived in Aden to transport the dead and wounded from the Saudi enemy’s mobilisations,” the spokesperson said.

Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed al-Jaber offered a sharply different account of the fighting, celebrating reported advances by government-aligned forces near the strait.

“Blessed Friday and victory for every Yemeni and Arab. Bab al-Mandab has been cleared of the remnants of the Houthi terrorist militia,” al-Jaber said.

However, the extent of the reported advance remained disputed. Aidarous al-Zubaidi, president of the Southern Transitional Council, claimed that forces had recaptured Perim Island, also known as Mayyun Island, and the surrounding coastal area. Waddah al-Dabish, a military spokesperson for Yemen's internationally recognized government, said only half the area had been retaken.

Hans Grundberg, the United Nations' special envoy to Yemen, told the Security Council in New York that the country had returned to full-scale war. He warned that women and children would be among those most affected by the renewed fighting.