Symbolic imageHouthi missile kills 12 at Riyadh airport as US weighs joining strikes
A missile hit Riyadh's King Khalid airport on Saturday, the third attack there this week. Trump says the US may join Saudi strikes on the Houthis.
The Saudi civil aviation authority said the strike on Saturday, 10 October, killed at least 12 people and injured 309. The dead were four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and one each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt. According to the Jerusalem Post, Saudi Arabia's threat warning system issued no alert, and the Houthi media chief claimed on X that the group had "shut down Riyadh international airport". Flights were diverted and operations suspended. Two earlier attacks this week killed three people by Saudi account (FAZ) or four (Jerusalem Post).
Offensive at Bab el-Mandeb
The Saudi-backed Yemeni government launched an offensive on Monday, 5 October, to retake the strait territory the Houthis seized in a summer advance, with slow gains so far. Saudi Arabia and the government claim hundreds of strikes, which the Houthis say killed civilians, and the Houthis have declared Saudi airspace a military zone.
Washington weighs its role
Asked on Saturday whether the US would join the strikes, Trump said: "We may. We're going to look at it." He announced no decision. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack as showing "a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life."
Other opinions
Handelsblatt reported that no claim had come from the Houthis, and FAZ says the Saudi authority did not name them, citing diplomats for a Houthi missile.