Rubio decries ‘reprehensible’ Houthi attack on Saudi airport

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday night condemned the Houthi missile attack earlier in the day on Saudi Arabia’s international airport in Riyadh, saying that “numerous innocent lives” were claimed, including that of an American citizen.

The Iranian proxy group’s “reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now,” Rubio stated, extending America’s condolences to the victims and their families.

At least 12 people died and 300 more were wounded in the deadliest attack in the kingdom in more than a decade, Reuters reported.

Saudi officials said that among the casualties were four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Sudan and Syrian, the report continued.

All flights to Riyadh have been either diverted or canceled, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24.

The Saudi-led coalition vowed to respond, according to Reuters.

This was the third Houthi attack this week on King Khalid International Airport, with the previous two killing four and causing major damage to a Saudi commercial airplane.

Although the Houthis did not claim responsibility for the latest attack, they said they were behind the previous attack on the airport on Thursday.

U.S. President Donald Trump was asked by reporters in the wake of the attack if American forces will join Saudi strikes on 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. We move very quickly,” Trump said per Reuters.

Turki al-Maliki, a spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition forces, said on Sunday that a Houthi-launched ballistic missile was intercepted over central Saudi Arabia in the Al-Kharj Governorate.

He further noted that “a drone was intercepted and destroyed in the Eastern Province,” according to Saudi Press Agency.

The military confrontation between the Saudis and the Iranian-backed jihadist organization escalated after the latter took control over a long territorial stretch along the Red Sea coast in Yemen, including several islands in the strategic choke point of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, last month.

The civil war in Yemen has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people since 2014.

The Saudis entered the war the following year at the request of the U.N.-recognized Yemeni government, joined by forces from eight other countries from West Asia and North Africa in an attempt to repel the Houthi rebels.

A fragile ceasefire signed in 2022 began to unravel in July, with the Houthis firing missiles at Saudi airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.