A missile hit the domestic terminals at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 309, including one American. Hours later, the Saudi energy ministry was still out there promoting a major international energy conference set to start in Riyadh on Sunday. The show, apparently, must go on, preferably with fewer missiles.
Twelve Dead, 309 Hurt, Eight Nationalities
Per CBS News, Saudi aviation officials said the dead include four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshis, and one person each from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine, and Sudan. One American was among those killed, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed. That is a list of people who went to an airport. Workers, travelers, people on their way somewhere. Several of the 309 injured are in critical condition, so the death toll could climb.
A regional official, speaking anonymously, said the missile struck a complex housing terminals 3 and 4, the ones used for domestic flights. Not a military base. Not an oil facility. A building where people wait for connecting flights and buy overpriced water.
The airport was locked down afterward, with a heavy police presence, every entrance blocked, and the lights around the complex dimmed. Airport operations are suspended through at least midnight, and flights are being diverted elsewhere.
The Houthis Have Not Claimed It, But They Did Warn Everyone
The Houthis haven't taken responsibility for Saturday's strike. They did claim attacks earlier this week on the same airport that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. They also warned global airlines "for the last time" about operating in Saudi airspace, which they described as a theater for their military operations.
Read that again. A militia declared a country's civilian airspace a theater of operations, and then a missile landed on a civilian terminal. You don't need a decoder ring for this one.
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. Tell that to the families of the dead at King Khalid, who were not, to my knowledge, cargo vessels.
A Second Front in an Already Overstuffed War
This is the new front in the Iran war, with Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen going after Saudi Arabia. The surge in attacks, which has also hit other Saudi airports, military facilities, and oil infrastructure, came in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major offensive against the Houthis.
The fighting inside Yemen has escalated too. The coalition is providing air support for government forces trying to reverse recent Houthi gains along the Red Sea. Those gains matter because they gave the rebels better surveillance of shipping on the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.
So one chokepoint is already under fire, and now the backup chokepoint is in play. Anyone who has ever relied on a backup plan knows how much fun it is when the backup plan catches fire too. The Houthis earlier accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held capital, so airports are now targets on both sides.
Trump Will Decide, Quickly, Like Always
Before the casualty count was even in, President Trump told reporters he was evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes on the Houthis. "We may. We're gonna look at it," he said. "We just found out about the recent attack. So we'll make a decision. We move very quickly."
He does move quickly. That is not the reassuring part. Speed is a virtue when you're defusing a bomb and a liability when you're deciding whether to put American forces into a war that already has two fronts and a closed strait.
Rubio condemned the "terrorist Houthis" and said the strike "took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen." A State Department spokesperson told CBS News the administration is in close contact with its "Saudi partners." Nobody has explained what the goal would be, what the exit looks like, or whether anyone has asked Congress. Previous U.S. bombing of the Houthis sharply limited their earlier shipping attacks, but it did not make them go away.
The Skies Are Emptying Out
At least 291 flights at Riyadh's airport were canceled in the past 24 hours, according to FlightAware. Air India, FlyDubai, Lufthansa Group, and Pakistan International Airlines were among the carriers suspending service to and from Riyadh and other Saudi airports before the latest attack. The U.S., Britain, Germany, Australia, and Canada all told their citizens to steer clear of the airport.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace, flagging the Houthis' ability to hit targets deeper inside the kingdom, including Riyadh, and a "greater focus on aviation infrastructure." It also warned that missiles, drones, and interception efforts "create an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft."
Translation: somebody could shoot down a passenger plane by mistake. That is the safety agency's own concern, in writing. Two regional officials said Thursday's attacks on the same airport had already damaged three planes, and the Saudi national carrier confirmed one of its aircraft was hit on the ground with no passengers aboard.
The Dingo Take
Twelve people are dead at an airport, and the oil conference is still on the calendar. Truly a region that knows how to keep its priorities straight. Markets are rattled, airlines are fleeing, and the Saudi energy ministry is out here pushing a Sunday event like the missile was a scheduling conflict.
Here is what should keep you up. The president of the United States is weighing whether to join a Saudi bombing campaign while the war with Iran is already burning on another front, and his stated process is that he moves "very quickly." Nobody in that briefing room seems to have been asked what winning looks like. A bombing campaign against the Houthis has been tried before. It limited their shipping attacks. It did not end the Houthis. Now they have longer reach, and they've just hit a capital city's airport.
An American is among the dead, and that will be used to justify whatever comes next. Grieve the victims and demand answers anyway: from Congress, which should be asked before one more American plane takes off for Yemen, and from an administration that treats a widening war like a restaurant order. The people at King Khalid were just trying to get somewhere. The least the rest of us can do is ask where this is all going.
Comments