Saudi Arabia said it will "firmly" retaliate against Saturday's missile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the deadliest attack on the kingdom in more than a decade. The Saudi-led coalition blamed Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi group, also known as Ansar Allah, with spokesman Major-General Turki al-Malki describing the attack as "a full-fledged war crime".
The missile killed 12 people and wounded 309, some critically, according to Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation. The dead included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshis and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan.
The Houthis have not claimed responsibility for the strike. But on Sunday, military spokesperson Yahya Saree renewed the group's warning to airlines, airport workers and travellers against using Saudi airports, saying the kingdom "bears responsibility for any failed interceptions".
The attack comes amid escalating fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces following the collapse of a United Nations-brokered ceasefire largely in place since 2022. It has raised fears of a wider regional confrontation, with United States President Donald Trump calling the attack "terrible" and suggesting Washington could join Saudi military operations against the Houthis.
Dania Thafer, executive director at the Gulf International Forum, said Saudi Arabia will likely hit back "pretty hard" but still prefers de-escalation. "The Houthis are making it very difficult by not only being a threat to Saudi national security but also a threat to international maritime security," she said. "So this battle is much bigger than just a tit-for-tat."