The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen has vowed to retaliate after a suspected Houthi missile attack on Riyadh airport killed 12 people and wounded more than 300, as Donald Trump said the US could join its military campaign.
uncertain
US → lead → campaign
Saudi Arabia blamed the Iran-allied Houthi rebel movement for the strike on the airport on Saturday, which damaged passenger terminals.
asserted
which → blame → terminals
It was the deadliest attack on a Gulf country since the war with Iran started in March and an apparent escalation in the Houthis’ war with Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government that it sponsors.
asserted
it → start → that
Videos circulated on social media showing travellers walking through debris-strewn ground in the airport as sirens blared.
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sirens → circulate → airport
Four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a US citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese were killed in the missile strike.
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citizens → kill → strike
On Sunday, Saudi authorities extended the airport’s closure and said schools would be moved online until Thursday.
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schools → extend → Thursday
On Saturday night, the spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, Maj Gen Turki al-Maliki, said the coalition “will respond firmly” to the attack, offering little other details.
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coalition → lead → details
The Houthis doubled down on their threats on Sunday, warning airlines, passengers and staff to stay away from Saudi airports.
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Houthis → double → airports
The group said “the worst is yet to come” if Saudi military action in Yemen continued.
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action → say → Yemen
“We renew our warning to all airlines, experts, employees, workers and travellers against using Saudi airports and airspace, as they are vulnerable to attack and have become a theatre of operations for our forces,” the Houthis said in a statement on X.
Trump said he was evaluating whether the US would join the military campaign against the Houthis, saying on Saturday: “We’re gonna look at it.”
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We → renew → it
He said he would speak to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, on Saturday night.
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he → say → night
US involvement against the Houthis would be a further widening of the regional war that grew out of the US-Iran conflict, which so far has included fighting in Lebanon and Iraq.
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which → grow → Lebanon
The US has already been assisting with intelligence cooperation and targeting, with about 200 US military advisers stationed in Saudi Arabia to assist with the campaign.
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US → assist → campaign
Until now, the US has not directly taken part in fighting against the Houthis.
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US → take → Houthis
Direct US involvement could lead the group to resume its targeting of ships passing through the Bab al-Mandab strait, through which about 10% of global maritime goods transit.
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% → lead → goods
Saudi Arabia is already carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen.
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Arabia → carry → Yemen
The group blamed the country for two airstrikes on Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, on Sunday.
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group → blame → Sunday
The Houthi government’s health ministry said coalition airstrikes over the last six weeks had killed 91 Yemenis and wounded 168, 60% of whom it said were women and children.
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it → say → whom
Saudi-backed government forces in Yemen launched a campaign to push the Houthis back from the areas the group conquered over the last month.
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group → back → month
Despite claiming initial successes, the government forces have not been able to loosen the Houthis’ grip over areas closest to the Bab al-Mandab strait such as Perim Island.
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forces → claim → Island
The Egyptian woman killed in the attack on the airport was a flight attendant identified as Azza Ramzy, 28, who worked for the Saudi airline Flynas, according to Egyptian state-run TV.
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who → kill → TV
The Syrian woman was a widowed mother of four who had been living in Saudi Arabia for five years, a relative told the Associated Press.
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relative → live → Press
The Syrian embassy in Riyadh identified her as Buthaina Ahmad Oweida.
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embassy → identify → Oweida
Her niece, Nisreen Oweida, said her aunt was 56, from Syria’s northern Idlib province, and had left during the country’s civil war.
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aunt → say → war
She was living in Mecca and had been returning from a visit to her sister in Riyadh when she was killed, the niece said.
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niece → live → Riyadh
The airport attack was met with a wave of international condemnation, including from the UN secretary general, António Guterres, and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
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attack → meet → Commission
“Attacks by Iran’s proxies are pushing the region into a spiral of violence,” von der Leyen wrote on X.
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Leyen → push → X.
“They are destabilising crucial global transport and energy nodes.
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They → destabilise → nodes
The increasing intensity of Houthi attacks against Riyadh and its energy infrastructure has brought more foreign involvement in the Yemen war.
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intensity → increase → war
Governments are facing pressure over oil prices, already high from the US-Iran war since March.
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Governments → face → March
On Monday, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Turkey issued a joint statement saying they would move quickly to implement their mutual defence pact, including by speeding up the deployment of military forces in the kingdom.
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they → issue → kingdom
The UK said it would assist with defensive military support of Riyadh, providing refuelling for aircraft working to intercept Houthi missiles into Riyadh.
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it → say → Riyadh
Saudi Arabia has asked for further assistance from France, Egypt, the UK and Pakistan as its stock of interceptor missiles are running low.
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stock → ask → missiles
The Houthis launched a military campaign to take Yemen’s Red Sea coast in early September after months of escalating tensions with the Yemeni government and its Saudi patron.
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Houthis → launch → government
The campaign interrupted years of relative calm in the country after a 2022 UN-brokered ceasefire froze frontlines between the Houthis and the government.
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ceasefire → interrupt → Houthis
Despite the Saudi-supported counteroffensive, the group seems to have held on to its recent gains.
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group → support → gains
It is unclear what further Saudi military action would look like against the Houthis, which resisted years of strikes by an international coalition, as well as by the US.
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which → look → US
Saudi Arabia led an international coalition that intervened against the Houthis in Yemen in 2015 after the group took over Sana’a and toppled the Yemeni government.
asserted
group → lead → government
Recent Houthi attacks against Saudi energy infrastructure, as well as Houthi military advances, have pulled Saudi Arabia back into the Yemen war.
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attacks → pull → war
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