Riyadh airport attack: At least 12 killed, over 300 injured

HOURS after the Iran-backed Houthis launched their third attack of the week against Saudi Arabia, killing 12 people and leaving more than 300 wounded, US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) condemned the attack, saying it was "not acceptable."

He made these remarks while addressing reporters and said he "will be speaking" with the kingdom's leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, following the attack blamed on Yemen's Houthis. He added, "What happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable."

US, Canadian, German and other diplomatic missions urged their citizens to avoid the airport or warned against travelling there. Passengers were advised to check their flight status with their airline.

The attack on Riyadh comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East, including the war between the US and Iran and Israeli attacks in Lebanon aimed at disarming the Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

Here are the top updates from the Riyadh airport attack:

1. When asked whether Washington planned to support Saudi Arabia by joining strikes against the Houthis, Trump said, "We may. We're going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we'll decide. We move very quickly."

Additionally, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attacks against Riyadh and said they “demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life.”

2. On Saturday (local time), the Houthis launched their third attack of the week on Riyadh's international airport, leaving at least 12 people dead. The attack came as the Iran-backed group escalated the campaign it launched earlier this year against the kingdom.

Among those killed were four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh, and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, and Egypt, the Saudi civil aviation authority said. 

According to the latest count, 309 people were injured, Reuters reported.

3. The attack on Riyadh airport is being called the deadliest in the kingdom in over a decade. It came without warning, and the country's threat-warning system issued no alert. The two previous attacks this week on King Khalid International Airport killed four people and caused severe damage to one of the kingdom's commercial planes parked on the tarmac.

4. All flights bound for Riyadh were diverted or cancelled on Saturday, according to Flightradar24, which at one point showed only a helicopter hovering above the airport. Saudi Arabia’s civil aviation authority said operations at the airport, which serves a city of around eight million people, had been temporarily suspended.

5. The Saudi-led military coalition supporting Yemen's internationally recognised government blamed pro-Iranian Houthi fighters in Yemen for carrying out the deadly attack at Riyadh airport, adding that the kingdom would respond "decisively," AFP reported.

In a statement, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki called the attack a "war crime" and pledged that the coalition "will respond decisively to this terrorist attack".

6. The Saudi-led international coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said it intercepted a missile on Sunday southeast of Riyadh, in the area where Prince Sultan Airbase is situated. A statement issued hours after the attack on Riyadh airport said, "Interception and destruction of a ballistic missile in Al-Kharj, launched by the Houthi terrorist militia."

7. Following the attack, the head of the Houthi media office wrote on X that the group had "shut down Riyadh international airport".

The Houthis also warned airlines against entering Saudi airspace, designating it a military operations zone after Yemen’s Saudi-backed government began an offensive against them on Monday.