Houthi Missile Strike Kills 12 at Riyadh Airport

A missile struck Terminal 4 at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, killing 12 people and wounding 309 others, Saudi civil aviation authorities said early Sunday. The Saudi-led coalition attributed the strike to Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.

The dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshis, one American, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese. Some of the wounded remain in critical condition at hospitals in the capital. This is the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in more than a decade and the third strike on the same airport this week.

Earlier attacks on Thursday killed at least three people and damaged a Saudia Airbus parked on the tarmac. Operations at the airport, which serves a city of roughly eight million people, were suspended after Saturday’s strike. Flightradar24 data showed more than 300 flights cancelled or delayed, with arrivals diverted elsewhere.

A passenger at gate 403 told AFP he saw the impact near gate 401 and watched people run as the injured lay on the floor. Saudi health officials activated a mass call-up of doctors. Foreign embassies, including those of the United States, Canada, Germany and Spain, advised citizens to avoid the airport.

Houthi media official Nasr al-Din Amer posted on X that the group had “shut down Riyadh international airport.” The Houthis have declared Saudi airspace a zone of military operations after the Riyadh-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive against them earlier in the week. They have urged airlines to avoid Saudi airports.

Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki called the strike a “full-fledged war crime” and said the coalition would respond decisively under customary international humanitarian law. Saudi forces later struck targets in Sanaa, killing a child and wounding seven others, according to local reports.

The escalation follows the breakdown of a truce earlier this year. Houthi forces have expanded attacks beyond the Red Sea shipping lanes they previously targeted. King Khalid International Airport is Saudi Arabia’s second-busiest after Jeddah’s King Abdulaziz International Airport.

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that Washington would review whether to join Saudi strikes against the Houthis. “We may. We’re going to look at it,” he told reporters. The attack comes amid separate US-Iran tensions and recent US naval actions in the Gulf of Oman.

The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said damage assessments continued into Sunday and that the airport would remain closed until at least late Sunday. Travellers with luggage stood outside a nearby metro station. Airlines have not yet issued full refund or rebooking timelines.

The nationalities of the dead highlight the airport’s role as a regional hub for migrant workers, pilgrims and transit passengers. Bangladeshi and other South Asian communities form a large part of the Saudi labour force. The presence of an American among the dead has drawn particular attention in Washington.

Previous Houthi missile and drone campaigns against Saudi infrastructure peaked between 2017 and 2022, hitting oil facilities, airports and cities. A 2019 attack on Abqaiq briefly halved Saudi oil production. The current wave is the first sustained campaign against the capital’s main airport in years.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and Vision 2030 projects have poured resources into expanding aviation capacity, including the new Riyadh Air carrier. The closure of King Khalid for even a day disrupts both domestic routes and long-haul connections. Cargo operations, including those serving the oil sector, face separate delays.

The coalition has conducted airstrikes in Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas in response. Civilian casualties in Yemen remain a point of dispute. Houthi statements claim their strikes target military and economic sites linked to the Saudi campaign, while Riyadh describes the airport hits as deliberate attacks on civilians.

Air traffic monitors and airlines will track the reopening closely. Any prolonged closure would force rerouting through Jeddah, Dammam or foreign hubs. Insurance premiums for flights into the kingdom may rise if the pattern continues.

The dead and wounded represent a cross-section of the people who use the airport on an ordinary Saturday: Saudi nationals, expatriate workers, a US citizen, and others. Their nationalities are now part of the public record released by Saudi authorities. Hospitals in Riyadh continue to treat the most seriously injured.