'We may join strikes': Trump responds after Houthi missile attack on Riyadh airport kills 12
Riyadh airport attack kills 12 and injures 309 as Saudi Arabia and Houthis exchange strikes. Trump weighs US action amid renewed fighting in Yemen.
An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed 12 people and injured 309 on Saturday, Saudi authorities said on Sunday. Four Saudi nationals and eight foreign residents were among the dead. The strike forced flight suspensions at the airport and came as Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Houthi movement exchanged attacks amid renewed fighting over strategic territory in Yemen.
Who was killed in the Riyadh airport attack?
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said the dead included two Bangladeshis and one person each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan, alongside four Saudi citizens.
A missile struck a section of the airport housing domestic terminals 3 and 4, as per media reports. Flights were cancelled or diverted, and airport operations were temporarily suspended for safety checks.
Saudi coalition blames Houthis for Riyadh airport strike
The Saudi-led military coalition blamed Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis for Saturday's attack and described the strike on a civilian airport as a war crime. It promised a firm response. King Khalid International Airport had been targeted twice earlier in the week, with those attacks killing four people and damaging an aircraft, Reuters reported.
The Houthis had warned airlines against using Saudi airspace after the Saudi-backed Yemeni government began a new offensive. Following Saturday's attack, the group said it was willing to agree reciprocal measures with Riyadh to exclude airports, seaports and other facilities used for humanitarian purposes from military operations, according to Xinhua.
Saudi air strikes target Sanaa as fighting spreads
Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported fresh Saudi air and missile strikes on Sanaa International Airport, areas near the Bab al-Mandab Strait and provinces in northern Yemen. Separately, Yemeni government forces claimed more than 1,150 Houthi fighters had been neutralised and over 180 vehicles destroyed or damaged during more than 1,900 strikes in a 24-hour period. The battlefield figures could not be independently verified.
Clashes also continued around Taiz, where Houthi advances have put pressure on government troops and disrupted roads linking the city with southern Yemen, military sources told Xinhua.
Trump considers US involvement after Saudi attack
US President Donald Trump said Washington could join Saudi strikes against the Houthis. "We may. We're going to look at it," he told reporters on Saturday. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attacks, while the American embassy urged citizens to avoid the Riyadh airport area.
Why the Bab al-Mandab Strait matters
The current fighting is concentrated partly around Bab al-Mandab, the narrow passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and a vital route for international shipping. Saudi-backed Yemeni forces launched an offensive on Monday to regain territory the Houthis had captured near the waterway. Competing claims about who controls parts of the strait have not been conclusively verified.
Yemen's war began after the Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government. A UN-brokered truce in 2022 reduced major fighting, but hostilities resumed this year. UN envoy Hans Grundberg has warned that Yemen has returned to full-scale war, with civilians bearing the consequences.