Saudi Arabia's Riyadh International Airport Attacked
A projectile struck a passenger terminal at the international airport in Riyadh on Sunday, a day after a missile hit the same terminal and killed 12 people, the Saudi-led coalition fighting Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said. The Houthis claimed responsibility for those attacks and others.
Saudi authorities said one person, described as a Pakistani national, was killed, and 11 were injured in the latest attack on the domestic terminal complex at King Khalid International Airport.
The airport — struck four times in the past five days — has been closed since Saturday’s missile attack, which was the deadliest in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began. Over 300 other people were wounded, some critically.
The sharp escalation in the war’s new front threatens to draw in greater U.S. military involvement. President Donald Trump has said he is weighing joining the fight against the Houthis. There was no White House comment Sunday.
India’s embassy in Saudi Arabia said one of its citizens died Sunday of injuries sustained in Saturday’s attack, which would bring the toll to 13. Saudi authorities later said King Fahd International Airport in Dammam also was attacked, with few details. The city is on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar.
The latest strike in Riyadh came shortly after the Houthis said the airport in the rebel-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa had been struck again, and blamed the Saudis. On Sunday night the Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV channel reported further strikes on Sanaa, blaming Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has not commented on the strikes.
At stake, again, in this escalation are global supplies and prices of oil as well as commercial shipping through a crucial alternative waterway to the Iran-threatened Strait of Hormuz — along with civilians and aviation throughout the region.
There was no sign Sunday that Trump had followed up on plans to speak with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been seeking assistance against the war-hardened rebel group that is currently Iran’s most dynamic proxy.
A U.S. intervention could prompt the Houthis to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen, further restricting the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. The rebels seized key areas along the strait last month. The Saudi-led coalition, backing forces with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, has been trying to seize them back.
The rebels’ strikes against Saudi airports, oil infrastructure and military facilities highlight a problem. The kingdom is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support to the region, regional officials told The Associated Press last month, with one noting that the U.S. has seen its own stock dwindle during the Iran war.
Some airlines have suspended flights serving Saudi airports, and some embassies have cautioned citizens about the risks of using them, after multiple Houthi warnings about the rebels’ use of Saudi airspace.
There was no sign Sunday that Trump had followed up on plans to speak with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been seeking assistance against the war-hardened rebel group that is currently Iran’s most dynamic proxy.
A U.S. intervention could prompt the Houthis to halt shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea off Yemen, further restricting the flow of oil out of the Persian Gulf. The rebels seized key areas along the strait last month. The Saudi-led coalition, backing forces with Yemen’s internationally recognized government, has been trying to seize them back.
The rebels’ strikes against Saudi airports, oil infrastructure and military facilities highlight a problem. The kingdom is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support to the region, regional officials told The Associated Press last month, with one noting that the U.S. has seen its own stock dwindle during the Iran war.
Some airlines have suspended flights serving Saudi airports, and some embassies have cautioned citizens about the risks of using them, after multiple Houthi warnings about the rebels’ use of Saudi airspace.