Houthi missile strike on Riyadh airport kills at least 13, injures hundreds
Houthi forces fired missiles at King Khalid International Airport on Saturday, 10 October, in the deadliest strike on Saudi Arabia since the US-Israel war on Iran began in February.
The strike on Riyadh
On Saturday, 10 October, Houthi forces fired missiles at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. Surveillance footage shows a fireball erupting as airport passengers ran for cover, and footage released by Saudi Arabia has been shared widely on social media. Casualty figures differ between sources. The BBC reports at least 14 people killed and hundreds injured, while the Independent and the FT podcast transcript give 13 killed, with the transcript citing more than 300 injured. The Independent also counts the airport strike as the third facility hit in a week by Houthi forces. Bloomberg describes missiles and drones fired from Yemen by the Iran-backed group as having caused havoc across Saudi Arabia.
Why the attack matters
The Financial Times calls the strike the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia since the US-Israel war on Iran began in February. Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies, speaking on an FT podcast, said no Iranian attack on a Gulf state had caused as many civilian casualties as this one. He added that the Riyadh airport is expected to welcome a number of very senior visitors in the coming weeks, which makes the attack a reputational and security problem for the capital. He put the matter simply:
There's no denying that this is a very unwelcome development for Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis hope to inflict economic damage on a kingdom that is pursuing an ambitious plan to move its economy away from oil. The podcast also recalls a drone attack in September that struck the east-west oil pipeline crossing the country.
- US-Israel war on Iran begins
- Drone attack strikes east-west oil pipeline
- Houthi missile strike hits King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh
Why Saudi defences were exposed
Saudi Arabia has spent hundreds of billions of dollars over decades on its military, placing it among the top 10 nations in arms spending. Analysts say the kingdom bought weapons with a 'glitter factor', such as high-tech fighter jets and the latest missile interceptors, while the Houthis often rely on cheap drones or low-flying cruise missiles that Saudi forces struggle to detect. Saudi defences were also designed around threats from the east or northeast, from Iran or Iraq, rather than from Yemen to the southwest. Finally, the military was split into two competing branches to guard against coups, and each branch suffers from highly centralised decision-making that limits flexibility, according to the analysts. Burcu Ozcelik, an expert on Middle East security issues at the Royal United Services Institute in London, summed up the damage:
It's a hugely rattling moment for Riyadh, humiliating on a number of fronts.
The renewed fighting has reignited a war that the kingdom began in 2015.
The US role and what comes next
Saudi Arabia has long relied on financial, military and intelligence support from the United States, particularly in its fight against the Houthis. Washington has, to date, shown limited interest in joining the fighting directly. The BBC asks why the United States is holding back and what that means for the people caught in the middle. The FT asks how Saudi Arabia's allies, including the United States, Turkey and Pakistan, will react to the danger. The same FT programme asks why the Houthis are so hard to defeat.
