Houthi missile kills 12 at Riyadh airport, Trump weighs US strikes

Saudi authorities extended the closure of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Sunday after a missile attack the previous day killed 12 people and wounded more than 300 others, marking the deadliest assault on the kingdom in more than a decade. The strike, which Saudi officials and their allies attributed to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, hit the main terminal and forced the suspension of all flights as investigators examined the scene.

The victims included one American, four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, a Syrian and a Sudanese national. Saudi civil aviation authorities said some of the injured remained in critical condition. The attack came days after smaller strikes on the same facility and followed weeks of intensified clashes between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces along the Red Sea coast.

The Houthis, who have not formally claimed responsibility for Saturday's strike, renewed their warning on social media that Saudi airports and airspace remain legitimate targets. They urged airlines, travelers and workers to avoid all Saudi facilities except those in Mecca and Medina, adding that the kingdom bears responsibility for any failed interceptions. A separate projectile was reported near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, while a drone was intercepted in the Eastern Province.

President Donald Trump told reporters outside the White House that the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis. "We may. We're going to look at it," he said. Two Saudi officials told reporters that Riyadh has requested urgent American defense support to bolster the coalition's operations in Yemen. The request comes amid the broader regional conflict that Washington and Israel launched against Iran in February.

The escalation has already disrupted an international energy conference scheduled in Riyadh and prompted fresh questions about the human cost of the renewed fighting. In Sanaa, Saudi-led coalition airstrikes have struck residential areas in recent days, killing at least one child and wounding others according to local reports. The Houthi-run Health Ministry claims 91 people have been killed and 168 injured across Yemen in the past five weeks, with the majority described as women and children.

Analysts note that the latest round of fighting follows the collapse of a UN-brokered ceasefire that had largely held since 2022. Saudi Arabia has increased its military involvement in response to Houthi territorial gains, while the Houthis have expanded their campaign to include direct strikes on Saudi infrastructure. The prospect of direct US participation raises the possibility of further entanglement in a conflict that has already produced one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Arab governments including Iraq, Lebanon and Syria joined the United Nations in condemning the Riyadh attack, though calls for restraint have so far gone unheeded on both sides. Saudi coalition spokesman Colonel Turki Al-Maliki described the airport strike as a war crime and vowed a decisive response under international humanitarian law. Airport operations in Riyadh are now expected to remain suspended until at least Sunday evening.