Houthi missiles strike Riyadh airport terminal, killing 12 and wounding 309 in the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia in a decade

Missiles struck King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday morning local time, hitting Terminals 3 and 4 of the terminal building and turning one of the busiest travel hubs in the Middle East into a scene of carnage. Saudi authorities said 12 people were killed and 309 wounded, some critically, as roofs and ceilings collapsed on travelers inside the terminals.

The dead included four Saudi citizens, two people from Bangladesh, and one each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, and Egypt, according to the Saudi civil aviation authority. Hospitals in the capital were flooded with the wounded arriving by ambulance and helicopter. The Houthis claimed responsibility for the strike, a major escalation of their campaign against the Saudis.

Saturday's attack was the third on the airport this week. Two earlier strikes on Thursday killed four people, damaged a parked Saudi commercial jet on the tarmac, and prompted the European Union Aviation Safety Agency to widen its warning for Saudi airspace. The aviation risk group OPSGROUP sent members a "do not fly" recommendation for Saudi Arabia entirely, warning of the risk of misidentifying civilian aircraft as Saudi air defenses fire back at incoming missiles.

The Saudi led coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said a projectile also fell near the airport in Dammam on Saturday, hours after the Riyadh attack. Saudi Arabia has been waging an air campaign against the Houthis while Yemen's government fights them on the ground, and both sides accuse each other of killing civilians.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday that Washington could join Saudi strikes on the Houthis in light of the airport attack. "We may," he said. "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."

The attack was the deadliest to hit a Gulf Arab country since the war involving the United States and Israel against Iran began in February. Flights were diverted from Riyadh on Saturday and the airport was closed while damage was assessed. The story is still developing.