Saudi Arabia vows major response after Houthi strike on airport kills 12, injures 309

Saudi Arabia said Sunday that it would “respond decisively” against the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen a day after a strike on Riyadh’s international airport brought the expanding Middle East conflict home to the Saudi capital. The Houthis later claimed responsibility for the attack and warned airlines against flying to Saudi airports, calling them “potential targets.”

The Saturday attack, which killed 12, injured 309 and came without warning, revealed the vulnerability of the U.S. ally and the ramifications of the Trump administration’s reluctance to openly help fight the Houthis more than seven months into Washington’s war with Iran.

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Riyadh’s airport is Saudi Arabia’s second largest for civilians and is frequently used by royals and visiting dignitaries, including President Donald Trump in his last visit to the kingdom. The airport was attacked again Sunday, igniting a fire and injuring some people, Saudi officials said.

The United States is providing Saudi Arabia with intelligence support, analysts and U.S. officials say. But the administration has stopped short of the direct military assistance that officials in the kingdom and its allies in Yemen’s internationally recognized government have sought.

After Saturday’s attack, Trump told reporters he was weighing whether to join Saudi strikes on the rebel group, later adding that the U.S. “has communication with the Houthis.”

Passengers and airport staff among dead, injured

A statement by the spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Turki al-Maliki, called the attack on the passenger terminal a “full-fledged war crime.”

Among those killed or injured Saturday were passengers and airport employees, Maliki added. There was no immediate information on the one American killed in the attack.

Footage broadcast on Saudi state media after the Saturday attack showed some of the injured in the hospital with severe burns and bandaged arms. “This was a brutal bombing that killed innocent people,” Hasan Barqawi, whose son was among the 12 killed, told a state-owned TV station.

U.S. Embassy warning staff about using Saudi airports

The escalation comes at an increasingly turbulent time for the Middle East’s aviation sector. Iran’s attacks on Persian Gulf airports have kept some travellers away, and a FlyDubai co-pilot attempted to take over a Tel Aviv-bound plane in what the United Arab Emirates has said was an attempt to crash the aircraft into Ben-Gurion International Airport.

In the wake of the Saudi airport attacks, foreign missions in the kingdom have urged their citizens not to use the Riyadh airport, with the U.S. Embassy saying employees needed special permission to do so. It later expanded the warning to two international airports on Saudi Arabia’s east and west coasts.

The Saudi Civil Defense did not issue a take-cover alert on its social media pages for Riyadh, and the airport had told passengers only of the need to confirm flights before heading there.

Trump facing pressure

With the U.S. push for a deal to end its war with Iran stalled, the escalating conflict between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia is further rattling energy markets and threatening to draw in more of the region ahead of the U.S. midterm elections in November.

Farea al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House in Britain focusing on Yemen and the Persian Gulf, predicted that Trump would get involved because the attacks are tied to the larger Iranian response to the war.

“Even if he wants to avoid it for the sake of the midterms, there is something more important for him,” Muslimi said. “He is presenting himself to MAGA and to everyone as the guy who is taming Iran.” Lack of action would be “humiliating for Trump, not just the Saudis,” Muslimi added said.

Yoel Guzansky, a researcher at the Institute for National Security Studies in Israel, said there is pressure on Trump to act because oil exports are at risk and the kingdom has agreed to buy billions of dollars’ worth of American weaponry.

The Saturday attack was part of a string of Houthi strikes on airports across the kingdom this past week. The group also launched an offensive last month to wrest territory along Yemen’s Red Sea coast near the strategic Bab al-Mandab strait from the Saudi-backed government as Iran steps up attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, reducing the amount of oil getting out.

Elsewhere in Riyadh, in an apparent effort to project an image of normalcy, the kingdom on Sunday kicked off a days-long energy conference that gathered industry executives from around the world. Photos on social media showed a packed conference chamber.

For some in the capital, though, life will never be the same. “We want this to stop,” said Barqawi, whose son was killed in the attack. “I do not wish this on anyone.”

Rachel Chason contributed to this report.

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