Twelve people were killed in an attack on the Riyadh airport

Twelve people were killed and 309 were injured in an attack on the international airport in Riyadh on October 10, according to Saudi authorities. This is the most serious incident in the conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Houthis, Bloomberg reports.

Some of the victims are in serious condition. A U.S. citizen is among the dead.

The Saudi Civil Aviation Authority has temporarily suspended operations at the airport to assess the damage. According to the flight-tracking service Flightradar24, approximately 260 flights were canceled in Riyadh on Saturday, and another 219 were delayed. King Khalid International Airport urged passengers to check the status of their flights directly with their airlines before leaving home.

The U.S. has warned its citizens to avoid the airport in the kingdom’s capital, and U.S. President Donald Trump said he plans to speak by phone with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “What happened in Saudi Arabia is unacceptable,” he told reporters on Saturday evening as he was returning to Washington from a political rally.

Saturday’s attack was not the first this week: on Thursday, three Saudi Arabian citizens were killed in a strike on the same airport; several others were injured; and a Saudia Airlines plane was damaged. Earlier this week, one person was killed in an attack on the capital’s main airport, and two others were killed in a strike on Abha Airport. The Iran-backed Houthi group claimed responsibility for both incidents.

The Houthis are facing a ground offensive by the Saudi-led coalition: Troops from Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Saudi Air Force are attempting to retake territory seized by the group over the past month in the area of the strategically important Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The coalition reported advances, including the recapture of the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, and declared its intention to “eliminate” the Houthis. The group continues to control territory where about 70% of Yemen’s population lives, including the capital, Sana’a.

Trump suggested that the U.S. might join the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis: “Perhaps. We’ll look into it,” he replied when asked by reporters. Until now, the Trump administration has avoided more active involvement in the Saudi offensive.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor