President Donald Trump said Saturday he is considering whether the United States should join Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, after a missile attack on Riyadh’s main international airport killed 12 people and injured more than 300. The strike, the third on the airport in a single week, has sharply escalated a conflict that is rapidly becoming a second front in the Iran war.
What Trump said
Asked by reporters whether the United States would take part in Saudi strikes against the Houthis, Trump left the door open. “We may. We’re going to look at it,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”
Trump was also asked about new military action against Iran and whether he would wait until after November’s midterm elections. “We will study it,” he said, adding: “We can end it very quickly.”
So far Washington has given Saudi Arabia intelligence, targeting and planning support for the offensive against the Houthis, but no American forces in offensive operations. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sought direct US military help in conversations with Trump in September, Reuters reported; Washington declined at the time.
The Riyadh airport attack
On Saturday afternoon, a missile struck a complex housing Terminals 3 and 4 — which handle domestic flights — at King Khalid International Airport, a regional official told the AP. The airport was evacuated, operations suspended, and ambulances rushed to the scene.
Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said early Sunday that 12 people were killed and more than 300 injured, some critically — the deadliest attack on any Gulf Arab country since the Iran war began in February. The dead included four Saudi citizens, a US citizen, a Palestinian, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian, a Sudanese and two Bangladeshis. The Houthis claimed earlier attacks on the airport this week that killed three Saudis, including an airline pilot; no group immediately claimed Saturday’s strike.
The attack has thrown regional air travel into chaos. FlightAware counted at least 291 flights canceled at the Riyadh airport in 24 hours, while Air India, FlyDubai, Lufthansa, Etihad, Qatar Airways and Pakistan International Airlines suspended or canceled services. The United States, Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport.
A wider escalation
The airport strike is part of a surge of Houthi missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major offensive against the rebels in Yemen. The AP reported that Saudi Arabia is running low on missile interceptors and has asked France, Britain, Pakistan and Egypt to deploy air defense support.
Reactions: pressure to act, warnings of another war
Some lawmakers want the US to hit the Houthis harder — Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) complained at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing this month that the administration was not doing enough against the group, according to Reason’s reporting.
Others warn against a new open-ended war. War-powers advocates in Congress have repeatedly argued that US military action in Yemen lacks congressional authorization — a 2019 resolution directing an end to US support for the Saudi-led war passed both chambers but was vetoed by Trump. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) have also questioned the constitutionality and cost of US strikes in Yemen, warning they could widen the conflict with Iran. The New York Times reported that Trump ordered, then pulled back, a Yemen strike last month, with much of his inner circle skeptical of joining the Saudi fight while the military is already strained by the war with Iran.
Regionally, the Houthis have warned global airlines to stay out of Saudi airspace, calling it part of their battlefield. The escalation has rattled oil markets and raised fears of further shipping disruptions near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Trump promised a fast decision. Whether the United States moves from intelligence support to direct strikes — or diplomats cool the crisis first — will shape not only Yemen’s war but the broader US-Iran confrontation.
Music in this post's reel: Kevin MacLeod - Hitman (incompetech.com), licensed under CC BY 3.0
Sources: Associated Press via WEKU; CNN; New York Post; Newsmax