Saudi Arabia has vowed to “firmly” retaliate against an attack on Riyadh’s international airport, which left at least 12 people dead, with US President Donald Trump calling the attack “terrible”. The Saudi-led military coalition on Sunday blamed Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi group for Saturday’s attack on King Khalid International Airport, describing it as a “full-fledged war crime”. The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the latest strike.
However, on Sunday, the Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, renewed their warning to airlines, airport workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports, saying the warning should be taken seriously and that the kingdom “bore responsibility for failed interceptions”. The attack comes amid escalating fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces following the collapse of a UN-brokered ceasefire largely in place since 2022. The fighting has raised fears of a wider regional confrontation, with the US President suggesting Washington could join Saudi military operations against the Houthis.
Dania Thafer, executive director at the Gulf International Forum, said Saudi Arabia will likely hit back at the Houthis “pretty hard”. They don’t want long-term escalation but the Houthis are making it very difficult by not only being a threat to Saudi national security but also a threat to international maritime security,” Thafer said. It wounded at least 309 others, some of them critically.
The dead included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshis and one citizen each from the US, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. It was the deadliest attack on the Kingdom in more than a decade. The Houthis, who have yet to take responsibility for the attack, said on Sunday that they “renew their warning to all aviation companies, experts, employees, workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports and airspace, because they are exposed to targeting and are a theatre of operations by our forces”.
Airport operations were suspended, with flights cancelled or diverted. Schools across Riyadh were also ordered to switch to remote learning for a week following the attack. The attacks have disrupted international flights, with several airlines suspending services to Saudi destinations.
Later on Saturday, the Saudi-led coalition said a projectile had fallen near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam in the country’s east. Al Jazeera’s Yousef Mawry, reporting from the Houthi-held capital, Sanaa, said the Iran-backed group was retaliating by attacking what it called Saudi Arabia’s “most precious assets”, which are Aramco oil facilities and the airport in Riyadh. The Iran-aligned Houthis have launched a series of missile and drone attacks targeting airports, military installations and oil facilities across Saudi Arabia, including areas near the border with Yemen.
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