{"id":878026,"date":"2026-10-11T00:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T00:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878026\/"},"modified":"2026-10-11T00:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T00:50:10","slug":"riyadh-airport-attack-kills-12-including-an-american-and-injures-hundreds-saudi-officials-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/878026\/","title":{"rendered":"Riyadh airport attack kills 12, including an American, and injures hundreds, Saudi officials say"},"content":{"rendered":"

CAIRO \u2014\u00a0The latest attack on the international airport<\/a> in Saudi Arabia\u2019s capital killed 12 people and injured over 300 others, civil aviation authorities said early Sunday, with some in critical condition.<\/p>\n

The attack was the deadliest in any Gulf Arab country since the start of the Iran war<\/a>, whose fronts have expanded to include the recent surge in fighting<\/a> between the Iran-backed Houthi rebels<\/a> in Yemen and Saudi-backed government forces there.<\/p>\n

The statement, which did not assign blame for the attack, said the dead included four Saudi citizens as well as two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese. It said the injured were being treated at several hospitals.<\/p>\n

00:13<\/p>\n

Houthi strikes on Riyadh airport kill 3 Saudi nationals<\/p>\n

00:0000:00<\/p>\n

The attack \u2014 the latest of several in the past week on King Khalid International Airport \u2014 is expected to increase Saudi pressure on allies including the United States to provide military support for the kingdom.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the attack on Saturday afternoon, President Donald Trump said he was evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes against the Houthis.<\/p>\n

The Houthis claimed attacks earlier in the week on King Khalid International Airport that killed three Saudis<\/a>, including a pilot. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe may. We\u2019re going to look at it,\u201d Trump said of intervening. \u201cWe just found out about the recent attack. So we\u2019ll make a decision. We move very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The surge in attacks, including against other Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure, has come in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive<\/a> against the Houthis. There was no immediate statement from the rebels, who earlier Saturday accused Saudi Arabia of striking Sanaa International Airport in the Houthi-held Yemeni capital.<\/p>\n

Riyadh airport operations have been suspended<\/p>\n

Saudi civil aviation authorities earlier said airport operations were suspended and the extent of injuries and damage was being assessed. An official notice to aviators said the suspension was through midnight. The airport had a heavy police presence, with all entrances blocked, and lights around the complex were dimmed.<\/p>\n

Flights were diverted elsewhere, the Flightradar24 tracker said. Countries including the United States, Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport.<\/p>\n

The attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world\u2019s top oil exporter, have rattled markets and the region. And yet the Saudi energy ministry hours after the latest one was still promoting a major international energy conference set to begin in Riyadh on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces has escalated, with the Saudi-led coalition providing air support for government forces attempting to reverse recent Houthi gains along the Red Sea. Those gains gave the rebels better surveillance of shipping on a corridor that is a crucial alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iran has been attacking ships.<\/p>\n

Though the Houthis have told the AP and others they are only targeting Saudi shipping as part of a blockade in retaliation for one imposed on them, concerns about wider attacks persist. The Houthis previously attacked other ships after the war in Gaza began, calling it solidarity with Palestinians. A U.S. bombing campaign sharply limited that.<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia has run low on interceptors, officials say<\/p>\n

Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support to the region, regional officials told the AP<\/a> last month, with one noting that the U.S. has seen its own stock dwindle<\/a> during the war with Iran.<\/p>\n

Officials have said U.S. assistance has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the latest offensive against the Houthis.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia said its foreign minister and Omani counterpart spoke by phone about the importance of \u201csupporting diplomatic solutions to de-escalate tensions\u201d in the region. Oman, which lies across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran, has played a mediator role at times in the region.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Saudi authorities warned the public this week that \u201cfilming, publishing or sharing information related to countering missiles and drones and their impact sites exposes you to legal liability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flight disruptions are growing<\/p>\n

The Houthis this week warned global airlines \u201cfor the last time\u201d about the potential consequences of operating in Saudi airspace, which they described as a theater for their military operations.<\/p>\n

At least 291 flights at the Riyadh airport had been canceled over the past 24 hours, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. Before the latest attack, Air India, FlyDubai, Lufthansa Group and Pakistan International Airlines were among airlines suspending flights to and from Riyadh and other Saudi airports for varying periods.<\/p>\n

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace, noting the Houthis\u2019 ability to strike targets deeper inside the kingdom, including Riyadh, and a \u201cgreater focus on aviation infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The missile and drone attacks and interception efforts \u201ccreate an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

The Saudi national carrier said one of its aircraft was damaged while it was on the ground, with no passengers on board.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CAIRO \u2014\u00a0The latest attack on the international airport in Saudi Arabia\u2019s capital killed 12 people and injured over…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":878027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-878026","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/878027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}