Saturday’s attack, the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade, was a sharp escalation in the Yemen war, where Riyadh backs the internationally recognised government against the Houthis, who captured swathes of Red Sea coastline in a lightning offensive last month.
While the Houthis stopped short of claiming the strike, they threatened new attacks on the kingdom’s airports, except for the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, warning passengers not to travel.
“The airports and airspace are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces,” military spokesman Yahya Saree wrote on X.
The strike came in a week when the group intensified its attacks on the Saudi capital’s King Khalid International Airport, where three people were also killed on Thursday, as well as other key targets in the world’s largest crude oil exporter.
A spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen attributed Saturday’s attack to the Iran-backed group, calling it a “full-fledged war crime”.
A diplomatic source also attributed the strike to a Houthi missile.
The coalition vowed to respond, and on Sunday Houthi media reported that two Saudi strikes had targeted Sanaa governorate in Yemen, which is controlled by the Houthis.
The assault on the Saudi capital’s aviation hub drew condemnation from a UN special envoy and several world leaders including US President Donald Trump, who said it was “not acceptable” and that he was looking at joining Saudi strikes against the Houthis.
“We may. We’re going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision,” he told reporters at the White House.
Four Saudi citizens were among those killed, as well as two Bangladeshis, one American, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese, Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said.
It said some of the 309 wounded were in serious condition. (AFP)