Photo via middleeasteye.net
Houthis strike Riyadh airport with ballistic missile, kill 12 in deadliest attack in over a decade
The Iran-backed group launched its third assault on King Khalid International Airport this week, as Saudi-led forces began a major counteroffensive to reclaim territory in Yemen.
What happened
Yemen's Houthi militants struck Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday with a ballistic missile, killing at least 12 people and wounding 309, Saudi authorities said. The dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, and one person each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, and Sudan. The attack was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade and marked the third Houthi strike on the airport this week, with previous strikes on October 8 killing at least three people and causing additional casualties earlier in the week.
The assault came amid an escalation of the Yemen conflict. On October 4, Yemen's Saudi-backed government launched Operation "Dawn of Yemen," a major counteroffensive aimed at reclaiming territory the Houthis had captured in a September offensive, including key positions near the Red Sea's Bab al-Mandeb strait. Saudi Arabia provided air support with 100 fighter jets deployed in round-the-clock operations. The Houthis, backing by Iran, have responded with a surge in attacks targeting Saudi airports, military facilities, and oil infrastructure.
Riyadh airport operations were temporarily suspended following the attack, with all flights diverted. The Saudi-led coalition condemned the strike as a "full-fledged war crime" and vowed a "decisive" response. US President Donald Trump said he was evaluating whether the US should join the war against the Houthis, telling reporters "we may" take action. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the attack killed an American and called for an end to the strikes. The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, described the assault as "a grave escalation."
The spike in airport attacks follows weeks of intensified fighting over control of Yemen's territory. The Houthis seized Mokha and nearby areas on the Red Sea coast in September, threatening Saudi Arabia's alternative oil export route. Saudi air defenses reported intercepting missiles and drones on multiple occasions, while the Saudi-led coalition announced strikes destroying hundreds of Houthi military targets, claiming to dismantle ballistic missile networks. The Houthis have warned international airlines to avoid Saudi airspace, declaring it a military operations zone.
Chanakya's Move
The Houthis' tactic here is retaliation and demonstration of reach: they are escalating strikes on civilian infrastructure in Saudi Arabia to inflict costs that offset losses from the Saudi-led counteroffensive launched October 4. The group is testing whether Saudi Arabia and its allies can absorb repeated strikes on major civilian targets without fracturing support—and whether the US will break its May 2025 ceasefire and rejoin the fight. Trump's openness to military involvement suggests the gambit is working tactically: the attacks are forcing a US policy choice. The Houthis are betting that by targeting Riyadh's airport and proving they can deliver a major strike even as the coalition claims battlefield gains in Yemen, they can deter further Saudi escalation or shift the conflict's political calculus. The counter-move for the coalition is rapid degradation of Houthi missile and drone capability: both Saudi and (potentially) US air campaigns are designed to make such strikes unsustainable. The underlying contest is over whether the Houthis can defend territory and inflict enough pain on Saudi Arabia to force a negotiated outcome, or whether the coalition can suppress their capability faster than they can rebuild it.