Riyadh airport attack kills 12 and injures 309 as the Saudi-led coalition blames the Houthis

Archival photograph, not an image of the attack: King Khalid International Airport's Terminal 1 seen from the apron, Riyadh, 7 March 2013. Photograph: Kayhan Ertugrul / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Cropped.

Update, 11 October: Later on Saturday, Trump said he planned to speak to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and said "what happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable"; asked if the US might get involved, he responded, "We'll find out," the Associated Press reported (AP, via The Journal). Trump has not announced a decision, Al Jazeera reported on Sunday. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for Saturday's strike, Al Jazeera reported, but on Sunday they renewed their warning to airlines, airport workers and travellers against using Saudi airports. One Western diplomat based in Riyadh told AFP that the official number of injured "did not appear to give a full picture of the aftermath" (AFP, via CNA).

An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on the afternoon of Saturday 10 October killed 12 people and injured 309, some of them critically, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said in a follow-up statement early on Sunday, Sabq reported. The dead were four Saudi citizens and eight residents of other nationalities: two Bangladeshis and one American, Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, Palestinian and Sudanese, according to the statement as quoted by The Times of India and reported by the Associated Press (AP, via NPR).

The AP described it as the deadliest attack in any Gulf Arab country since the Iran war began. A regional official told the AP that a missile struck the airport complex that houses terminals 3 and 4, which handle domestic flights (AP, via CNBC). GACA said operations were suspended and that damage to the airport was still being assessed.

Who is being blamed

GACA's statement did not name an attacker. A diplomatic source told AFP it was a Houthi missile (AFP, via CNA). The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen's government said the Houthis carried out the attack, calling it a "war crime" and saying it "will respond decisively to this terrorist attack," DW reported; the coalition's statement was also published by the Saudi Gazette.

After the attack, the head of the Houthi media office said in a post on X that the group had "shut down Riyadh international airport," Reuters reported (Reuters, via The Straits Times). The post, as Reuters quoted it, did not describe the strike itself. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree reposted his own message from the day before, which said only pre-approved humanitarian flights would be allowed to land at Riyadh airport, adding: "A reminder," according to DW. Earlier on Saturday the Houthis had accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital, the AP reported.

The decision in Washington

Asked whether the United States would join Saudi strikes on the Houthis, President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House: "We may. We're going to look at it." He said the administration had "just found out about the recent attack" and would "make a decision," adding: "We move very quickly." Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that an American citizen was among the dead and wrote on X: "These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now," Reuters reported (Reuters, via Devdiscourse).

Officials have said US help so far has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the coalition's offensive against the Houthis, according to the AP. Trump's answer was not a decision, and no US strike had been announced by Saturday night.

Why it reaches beyond Riyadh

• This was the latest of several attacks on the airport in the past week; the earlier ones killed four people, the AP and DW reported.
• The coalition said a projectile fell near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and that a Houthi ballistic missile was intercepted in Al-Kharj, south-east of Riyadh, the AP reported.
• The US, Canadian, German and Spanish embassies told their citizens to avoid the airport. A senior Western diplomat told AFP that several embassies had barred staff from using it "over the next week". Etihad, Qatar Airways and Kuwait Airways cancelled flights, DW reported.
• Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt for air defence support, regional officials told the AP last month.
• The Houthis' recent gains on Yemen's Red Sea coast give them better watch over a shipping corridor that is a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, the AP noted.

What is still unknown

• The weapon, launch site and attacker have not been confirmed by Saudi civil aviation officials. The attribution so far comes from the coalition and an unnamed diplomatic source; the Houthi media office's post said the airport had been shut down.
• How many of the 309 injured remain in critical condition. GACA said some were, without giving a number.
• What the coalition's promised response will be, and whether the United States takes part.

Context

The strike follows the Saudi-backed offensive to push the Houthis back from the Bab al-Mandeb coast, which WatchfulEye covers in Saudi-led jets back Yemen offensive on Houthis near Bab al-Mandeb.

The coalition has promised a response. The bigger signal will be whether the United States joins it.