At least 12 people were killed and 309 injured when a missile struck Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, October 10, prompting the suspension of flights, Saudi vows of retaliation and U.S. consideration of military involvement.
The missile hit a complex containing Terminals 3 and 4, which handle domestic flights, and airport operations remained suspended into Sunday. Saudi authorities said the dead included four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Sudan. The attack was the third reported strike on Riyadh’s airport within a week and the deadliest assault on the kingdom in more than a decade.
Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners blamed Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement, which had claimed responsibility for earlier airport attacks but had not immediately claimed the latest strike. The coalition said the attacks would not go unanswered, sharply raising fears of wider fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed forces in Yemen. President Donald Trump said Washington “may” join Saudi strikes, leaving open the possibility of direct U.S. involvement.