Saudi Arabia has accused Yemen’s Houthis of killing at least 12 people and wounding 300 others in a third attack on the Riyadh International Airport this week. The victims on Saturday included four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi civil aviation authority said. The attack was the deadliest in the kingdom in more than a decade.
It came as the war in Yemen intensifies, with the Houthis battling forces aligned with the internationally recognised government for control of the country. Saudi Arabia is waging an air campaign against the Houthis to support the ground war by the Yemeni government against the Iran-backed group. US President Donald Trump described the attack as “terrible” and said he “will be speaking” with Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, soon.
He also said he was evaluating whether the US should join the war against the Houthis. We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision. We’ll move very quickly,” he said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said the Houthi attack killed an American and called for an end to “these reprehensible attacks”. Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, said the deadly strikes on civilian airports in Saudi Arabia represent “a grave escalation”. The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its “strong condemnation” of the Houthi attacks, denouncing their “flagrant violation” of international law, and the “disregard” for the safety of citizens that they entail.
Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the Houthi attacks, describing them as a “serious violation of Saudi sovereignty and a direct threat to the security of the region, the safety of civilians, civil facilities and air navigation”. It expressed its full solidarity with Saudi Arabia and said Doha supported “all legitimate measures” the kingdom “takes to preserve its sovereignty, security and safety of its territories”. The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared “its full solidarity with the sisterly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” and said it supported “all measures taken by the Kingdom to safeguard its security, sovereignty, and the safety of its citizens and residents”.
Japan’s embassy in Saudi Arabia strongly condemned the repeated attacks by the Houthis, saying assaults on civilians “cannot be tolerated” under any circumstances.
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