World condemns deadly Houthi attack on Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh airport — SkimNews
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- Houthi strike on Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport killed at least 12 and wounded more than 300 — the deadliest attack on Saudi soil in over a decade and the third strike on the same airport this week, per Saudi civil aviation.
- Victims included 4 Saudis, 2 Bangladeshis, and one national each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan, and Egypt, according to the Saudi civil aviation authority.
- Trump called the attack "terrible" and said the US is evaluating whether to join Saudi strikes on the Houthis, telling reporters: "We may. We're gonna look at it… we'll move very quickly."
- Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed an American was among the dead and called for an end to "these reprehensible attacks," reaffirming that the US "stands with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
- Pakistan activated a mutual defence pact with Riyadh over the attacks, calling them a "heinous act of terrorism" and pledging "unwavering solidarity" — a concrete military commitment few headlines flagged.
- UN Secretary-General António Guterres said he was "deeply shocked" and warned the strikes were a violation of international law that "must cease immediately," echoing condemnations from Canada, Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, Palestine, and Japan.
- The Houthis, an Iran-backed group, are battling forces aligned with Yemen's internationally recognised government, while Saudi Arabia wages an air campaign in support of the Yemeni ground war.
Why it matters: Pakistan activating a mutual defence pact with Riyadh signals a widening military coalition against the Houthis, while Trump's openness to joining Saudi airstrikes raises the prospect of direct US combat involvement in Yemen — and an American death in the attack makes a US response politically harder to avoid.
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