RIYADH — At least 12 people, including two Bangladeshi nationals, were killed and 309 others injured on Saturday when a suspected missile strike attributed to Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels struck King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, marking the deadliest assault on Saudi soil in over a decade.
The attack marks the third time the primary aviation hub has been targeted within a single week, underscoring an intensifying summer campaign by Houthi forces against strategic Saudi infrastructure.
The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) confirmed the casualties, stating that the fatalities include four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, and one individual each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, and Egypt. Scores of emergency medical crews, ambulances, and evacuation helicopters rushed to the scene to transport the wounded to nearby hospitals across Riyadh, where several victims remain in critical condition.
The terminal complex had already sustained two strikes earlier in the week that left four people dead and damaged a commercial passenger aircraft. However, Saturday’s strike occurred without warning, catching authorities off guard after the kingdom’s early-warning threat systems failed to sound an alarm. Eyewitnesses described chaotic scenes as debris and shrapnel tore through a passenger terminal concourse. Military analysts noted that the breach exposes critical vulnerabilities in the kingdom’s multi-layered air defense network amid repeated cross-border barrages.
The strike comes as Saudi-backed government forces wage intensified ground battles against Houthi forces in Yemen, backed by ongoing Saudi coalition airstrikes against rebel positions. While the Houthi movement did not immediately issue a formal claim of responsibility for Saturday’s incident, the Saudi-led military coalition squarely blamed the militia and vowed a swift, decisive retaliation.
In Washington, U.S. President Donald Trump indicated that the United States is actively weighing direct participation in military operations alongside Saudi forces against the Houthis.
“We may. We’re going to look at it,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio strongly condemned the strike, while United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres expressed grave concern, reiterating that strikes targeting civilians and civilian aviation infrastructure constitute a clear violation of international humanitarian law and must stop immediately.
Regional analysts caution that the cross-border escalation threatens to drag the Arabian Peninsula further into direct regional confrontation, following heightened Middle East hostilities that expanded earlier this year.
Sources: General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) Saudi Arabia, Reuters, and International Wire Reports.