At least 12 people, including one American, were killed and 309 others injured in a strike Saturday on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport.
At least 12 people, including one American, were killed and 309 others injured in a strike Saturday on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport, according to Saudi officials.
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said those killed included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshis and one person each from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. Those injured were receiving treatment at several hospitals, officials said in a social media post. Several people were in critical condition.
The Saudi kingdom has faced an extraordinary series of assaults on the new front in the Iran war that has opened up involving the Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.
President Trump said earlier Saturday he was evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis.
"We may. We're gonna look at it," Mr. Trump told reporters when asked about the possibility. "We just found out about the recent attack [on the airport]. So we'll make a decision — we move very quickly."
"The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today's strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post.
A State Department spokesperson told CBS News the Trump administration is in close contact with its "Saudi partners."
The Houthis have not yet claimed responsibility for Saturday's strike. However, the Houthis did claim attacks earlier in the week on King Khalid that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. In Saturday's strike, a missile struck a complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.
The surge in attacks, including against other Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure, has come in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive against the Houthis. There was no immediate statement from the rebels, who earlier Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital.
In a statement posted to social media, Hans Grundberg, United Nations special envoy to Yemen, called Saturday's strike a "dangerous escalation" that poses "a grave threat to regional security."
Saudi civil aviation authorities said airport operations were suspended. An official notice to aviators said the suspension was through midnight. The airport had a heavy police presence, with all entrances blocked, and lights around the complex were dimmed.
Flights were diverted elsewhere, the Flightradar24 tracker said. Countries including the U.S., Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport.
The attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, have rattled markets and the region. And yet the Saudi energy ministry, hours after the latest one, was still promoting a major international energy conference set to begin in Riyadh on Sunday.
Fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for government forces attempting to reverse recent Houthi gains along the Red Sea. Those gains gave the rebels better surveillance of shipping on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a corridor that is a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.
Though the Houthis have told The Associated Press and others they are only targeting Saudi shipping as part of a blockade in retaliation for one imposed on them, concerns about wider attacks persist. The Houthis previously attacked other ships after the war in Gaza began, calling it solidarity with Palestinians. A U.S. bombing campaign sharply limited that.
The Houthis this week warned global airlines "for the last time" about the potential consequences of operating in Saudi airspace, which they described as a theater for their military operations.
At least 291 flights at the Riyadh airport had been canceled over the past 24 hours, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Before the latest attack, Air India, FlyDubai, Lufthansa Group and Pakistan International Airlines were among airlines suspending flights to and from Riyadh and other Saudi airports for varying periods.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace, noting the Houthis' ability to strike targets deeper inside the kingdom, including Riyadh, and a "greater focus on aviation infrastructure."
The missile and drone attacks and interception efforts "create an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft," it said.
Two regional officials said Houthi attacks on the Riyadh airport on Thursday damaged three planes. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief the media. The Saudi national carrier said one of its aircraft was damaged on the ground, with no passengers on board.