An American was among 12 people killed Saturday when a Houthi missile attack struck Riyadh International Airport, leaving more than 300 others wounded. Some of those rushed to hospitals were listed in critical condition after the deadly assault rocked Saudi Arabia’s capital.
President Trump said the United States military could join Saudi Arabia in responding to the terror group’s continued [1] attacks. Trump also plans to speak with Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, according to a post on X from CBS News reporter Jennifer Jacobs.
The scene inside the airport reflected the attack’s brutal toll. Several injured people were seen lying on the ground as blood stains covered the terminal floor and emergency personnel moved victims to hospitals.
“All injured individuals are receiving the necessary medical care at several hospitals,” the Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation said in a statement. The agency said four Saudi citizens died, along with people from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Sudan and Bangladesh, as well as one Palestinian.
The missile strike was the deadliest attack on a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began in February. It also added Riyadh’s main airport to the growing list of civilian aviation sites caught in the region’s expanding violence.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the assault and declared that the United States stands with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now,” Rubio said in a statement posted on X.
The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today’s strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen.
These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now.
We stand with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people and extend our condolences to the victims and their families.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) October 10, 2026 [2]
Residents reported hearing at least two powerful blasts that shook the Saudi capital. Black smoke rose from the airport while more than a dozen ambulances raced toward the scene to respond to the mass casualties.
“Everyone was running,” a witness told Agence France Presse as officials evacuated the airport. A diplomatic source told the news agency that the Iran-backed Houthis were responsible for the attack on a passenger terminal at King Khalid Airport.
Trump was asked Saturday whether Washington would provide military support if Saudi Arabia retaliated against the terror group’s repeated offensives. The president did not rule out American involvement and said a decision could come quickly.
“We may,” Trump told reporters. “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 Saudi Civil Aviation Authority announced a temporary suspension of flights following the strike. “This attack comes amid the ongoing blatant attacks targeting civil aviation facilities in the kingdom,” the authority wrote in a statement on X.
The Houthis claimed responsibility Saturday and described the missile strike as retaliation for Saudi Arabia’s renewed bombing campaign against the rebel group across the border in Yemen. The assault triggered widespread disruption for passengers and airlines serving the Saudi capital.
Every flight headed to Riyadh was either diverted or canceled. Kuwait Airways, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways were among the carriers that suspended travel between their respective hubs and the Saudi capital into Monday.
Flight tracking sites reported that nearly 300 flights were canceled Saturday. The airport attack followed two other Houthi strikes there during the week that killed four people, including a Saudi pilot.
That unprecedented barrage against the Kingdom opened another front in the war in Iran. It also unfolded during a sharp escalation in renewed fighting between the Houthis and Yemeni government forces supported by Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis, a proxy group backed by Tehran and based in Yemen, renewed hostilities with Saudi Arabia after seizing key portions of the Red Sea coast. Saudi Arabia supports Yemen’s government, while the latest fighting has added to turmoil already shaking oil markets.
Yemeni government forces said they had expelled the Houthis from the strategic Bab el Mandeb Strait while pushing to retake territory along the Red Sea coast. The rebels denied that claim.
“The Bab al-Mandeb has been cleansed of the remnants of the terrorist Houthi militia,” Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Yemen, Mohammad Al-Jaber, wrote on X Friday. The competing claims came as the airport strike brought civilian deaths, canceled flights, and the possibility of an American military response.