Houthi strikes on Riyadh airport kill 3 in third day of attacks on Saudi Arabia

Saudi authorities confirmed on Friday that three Saudi nationals were killed and several others wounded in Thursday attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. A Saudia plane was damaged, smoke rose over Terminal 4, and airlines cancelled flights days before an oil chiefs meeting in the capital. Loud booms were heard across Riyadh on Thursday morning. Diplomats received warnings, and some schools issued shelter in place orders.

The Riyadh airport strike was the third day of a sustained campaign, not a one off attack. Earlier in the week an attack on Abha airport killed two women and wounded 28 people, and a Sudanese resident died in a Wednesday strike on Riyadh. Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi warned Saudi Arabia to prepare for a long conflict. The pattern is now unmistakable: airport strikes have become a multi day campaign, and this is the first time Riyadh's main airport has been hit in such a sustained way.

The coalition led by Saudi Arabia struck Houthi targets in Sanaa overnight, and Saudi officials said air traffic at the Riyadh airport had since normalized. But the retaliation has not restored calm, and the war is widening on the diplomatic front.

A US official and a Syrian defense official told Reuters that Syria is considering military support, defensive aid or an offensive deployment alongside Saudi backed Yemeni forces, as the attacks escalated. Saudi Arabia has also sought support from Turkey and Pakistan. The request for outside troops marks a turn: Riyadh, which once led the Yemen intervention itself, is now looking for partners willing to put forces into the fight. How those governments answer will decide whether this remains a Saudi Houthi exchange or becomes a broader regional conflict.

The arc of the week tells the story by itself. What began as a strike on Abha, far from the capital, has moved to the country's main international airport on consecutive days, with civilians killed in the terminal area. The Saudi response has gone from air strikes on Sanaa to shopping for foreign troops. Each step has raised the stakes, and none of them has yet stopped the attacks.