BEIRUT — This wasn’t the way the story was supposed to go for Saudi Arabia. In recent years, headlines about the country focused on the scale of its ambition, or the fantastical giga-projects girding Vision 2030, the full-steam-ahead drive to remake the kingdom into a business and entertainment powerhouse. But all that was upended Saturday, when a Houthi missile lanced through Terminal 3 of the capital’s international airport, killing 13 people, including a U.S. national, and wounding more than 300 others.
The attack — the deadliest Saudi Arabia has endured in years — made real a war that for most Saudis had remained notional. It also laid bare the bevy of bad scenarios facing Saudi leaders as they contend with an increasingly formidable enemy that, unlike them, has little to lose. That the Houthis are able to score hits from 500 miles away, despite the Saudi military spending tens of billions of dollars on multi-layered air defense systems, has puzzled experts.
Yes, the Houthis have gotten better, but it’s not a matter of them using a new weapons system,” said Wolf-Christian Paes, an associate fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies. Although Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport was shuttered after the attack — more than 99% of flights were canceled, according to the aviation analytics firm Cirium — the Houthis struck another terminal building Sunday, killing one person. On Monday, aviation authorities extended the airport’s closure.
Other airports across the kingdom were also targeted, along with gas facilities and oil refineries, the Houthis said. Yahya Saree, the Houthis’ military spokesman, on Sunday warned airlines and travelers to avoid Saudi airports, calling them “unsafe.” Meanwhile, many Riyadh-based firms told their employees to work from home, and schools shifted to online classes. Embassy in Riyadh cautioned citizens to keep their distance from the airport and surrounding areas.
The timing of the Houthi campaign seems calculated for maximum reputational harm. On Sunday the kingdom began hosting the World Petroleum Congress, an event that normally draws oil heavyweights from across the world, including energy ministers as well as CEOs from BP, Exxon Mobil Corp., Shell and TotalEnergies. Yet it’s unclear how many were able to attend, with some delegates forced to drive hours across the desert from Bahrain or Jordan to reach Riyadh.
Others, including Italy’s energy minister, attended a meeting via video link. Similar concerns now swirl around the Future Investment Initiative, Saudi Arabia’s flagship business conference, which is set for the end of the month. Officials, maintaining a show-will-go-on attitude, insist the event, known as “Davos in the Desert,” will happen on schedule.
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