Houthi Strike on Riyadh's Main Airport Kills 12 and Wounds 309

A Houthi attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday killed 12 people and wounded 309, according to Saudi aviation authorities cited by Russia's BFM.ru. A Houthi spokesman said the strike answered Saudi attacks in Yemen, including attacks on civilian infrastructure. Israel's Globes, citing The New York Times, reported that energy facilities were also hit while the Saudi air force kept striking Yemen.

The dead included four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, and one person each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, according to Al Jazeera. Reports said the kingdom's threat-warning system issued no alert, and Al-Monitor called it the deadliest attack in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade. The airport suspended operations and diverted flights. Earlier in the week, attacks on the Riyadh and Abha airports killed three foreign nationals.

Coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki called the strike a "full-fledged war crime" and said the coalition would respond decisively. The Houthis describe the conflict differently. China's Xinhua carried a Houthi statement saying Saudi Arabia had carried out 59 airstrikes in 24 hours and 1,857 strikes and missile attacks since the escalation began. Neither side's figures can be independently verified.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack and restated Pakistan's commitment to Saudi security under the Makkah Joint Defence Agreement. BBC News Hindi asked why Saudi Arabia cannot protect its capital despite modern weapons and great wealth. Its answer pointed to cost: cheap drones and missiles force the defender to spend far more on interceptors than the attacker spends on launches.