Riyadh airport attack: At least 12 dead, over 300 injured, Trump says strikes not acceptable | Top updates | Today’s news

Hours after Iran-backed Houthis launched their third attack in a week against Saudi Arabia, killing 12 people and injuring more than 300, US President Donald Trump on Saturday (local time) condemned the attack as “unacceptable”.

He made the remarks while addressing reporters and said he would “talk” to the kingdom’s leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, following an attack blamed on Yemen’s Houthis. He added: “What happened in Saudi Arabia is not acceptable.”

The attack on Riyadh comes at a time of heightened tensions in the Middle East, including the US-Iran war and Israeli strikes in Lebanon aimed at disarming Tehran-backed Hezbollah.

Here are the main updates from the Riyadh airport attack:

1. Asked if Washington planned to support Saudi Arabia by joining the strikes against the Houthis, Trump said: “We can. We’ll look at it. We just learned about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision. We’re moving very quickly.” In addition, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attacks against Riyadh, saying they “show a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life”.

2. On Saturday (local time), the Houthis launched their third attack in a week on Riyadh International Airport, killing at least 12 people. The attack comes as the Iran-backed group escalates a campaign it launched against the kingdom earlier this year. Among those killed were four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said. At last count, 309 people were injured, Reuters reported.

3. The Riyadh airport attack is being described as the kingdom’s deadliest in more than a decade. It happened without warning and the country’s threat warning system issued no warning. Two previous attacks this week on King Khalid International Airport killed four people and caused severe damage to one of the kingdom’s commercial planes parked on the tarmac.

4. All flights to Riyadh were diverted or canceled on Saturday, according to Flightradar24, which at one point showed only a helicopter hovering over the airport. Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority said operations at the airport, which serves the city of around eight million people, were temporarily suspended.

5. A Saudi-led military coalition backing Yemen’s internationally recognized government has accused pro-Iranian Houthi fighters in Yemen of carrying out a deadly attack at Riyadh airport, adding that the kingdom will respond “decisively”, AFP reported. In a statement, coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki called the attack a “war crime” and pledged that the coalition would “resolutely respond to this terrorist attack.”

6. The Saudi-led international coalition fighting the Houthis in Yemen said it intercepted a missile southeast of Riyadh on Sunday, in the area where the Prince Sultan Air Base is located. A statement issued hours after the Riyadh airport attack said: “Intercept and destruction of a ballistic missile in Al-Kharj, launched by Houthi terrorist militias.”

7. After the attack, the head of the Houthi media office wrote on X that the group “closed Riyadh International Airport.” The Houthis also warned airlines against entering Saudi airspace, declaring it a zone of military operations after Yemen’s Saudi-backed government launched an offensive against them on Monday.