Missile strike on Riyadh airport kills 12, injures 300+ in deadliest Gulf attack

A missile struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon, tearing through a facility housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights. When the smoke cleared, twelve people were dead and more than three hundred others were wounded, many in critical condition scattered across hospitals throughout the capital. Civil aviation authorities confirmed it was the deadliest attack on any airport in the Gulf Arab region since the Iran conflict began.

The dead included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshi citizens, a Palestinian, an American, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian, and a Sudanese national. The strike was the latest in a series of assaults on the same airport over recent days—the Houthis, the Iran-backed militant group operating from Yemen, had already claimed responsibility for earlier attacks this week that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. No immediate statement came from the rebels following Saturday's strike, though they had earlier accused Saudi Arabia of hitting Sanaa International Airport in the Yemeni capital they control.

The airport shut down immediately. Authorities suspended all operations until midnight, sealed every entrance, dimmed the facility's lighting, and diverted arriving aircraft to other destinations. Multiple countries—the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia, and Canada—issued warnings to their citizens to avoid the airport. The scale of the damage was still being assessed as evening fell.

The timing of the strike intensified pressure on the United States to intervene. President Donald Trump, speaking on Saturday, said America was considering whether to join Saudi military operations against the Houthis. "We may. We're going to look at it," Trump said. "We just found out about the recent attack. So we'll make a decision. We move very quickly." The assault came as the Saudi-led coalition had just launched a major military campaign against the rebels, and regional officials expect the kingdom to now demand even stronger military backing from Washington.

The broader conflict has been escalating for days. The Houthis have advanced along the Red Sea, giving them better surveillance of shipping lanes that serve as a critical alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking vessels. The Saudi-led coalition, providing air support to government forces fighting the rebels in Yemen, has struck military installations, oil infrastructure, and airports across Saudi territory. The Houthis say they are targeting only Saudi shipping as part of a blockade in response to one imposed on them, though concerns persist about wider attacks.

Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors. Regional officials told the Associated Press last month that the kingdom had requested air defense assistance from France, Britain, Pakistan, and Egypt. The United States has provided intelligence sharing, target identification, and planning support for the latest offensive, though American supplies have also been depleted during the broader conflict with Iran.

Despite the strike, Saudi Arabia's energy ministry continued promoting a major international energy conference scheduled to begin in Riyadh on Sunday. The attacks have rattled markets and the region, yet the kingdom pressed forward with its diplomatic calendar. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister spoke by telephone with his Omani counterpart about the importance of pursuing diplomatic solutions to reduce tensions—a signal that even as military operations intensify, some channels toward de-escalation remain open. Oman, positioned across from Iran at the Strait of Hormuz, has occasionally served as a regional mediator.