Houthis issue new threat on Saudi airspace after attack on Riyadh airport

October 11, 2026 / 9:12 AM EDT / CBS/AP Add CBS News on Google Yemen's Houthis issued a new threat to Saudi Arabia's airspace on Sunday after an attack on the kingdom's international airport in Riyadh killed at least 12 people, including a U.S. citizen, and wounded hundreds of others.Saturday's strike on King Khalid International Airport, the deadliest on Saudi soil in more than a decade, marked a major escalation in the war between Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis and the kingdom and further complicated sputtering efforts to halt the U.S.-Iran war.The airport remains closed on Sunday and Saudi Arabia moved Riyadh schools online amid the Houthis' latest threat. Flights were diverted elsewhere, the Flightradar24 tracker said. Countries including the U.S., Britain, Germany, Australia and Canada warned citizens to avoid the airport.While the Houthis did not immediately claim Saturday's deadly strike, they threatened new attacks on the kingdom's airports, except for the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, warning passengers not to travel."The airports and airspace are exposed to targeting and constitute a theatre of operations for our forces," Houthi military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree, wrote on X.He urged "everyone to take our warnings seriously."The attack on Riyadh's airport drew condemnation from the United Nations and world leaders, including President Trump, who said he was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis. "The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today's strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a social media post. A State Department spokesperson told CBS News the Trump administration is in close contact with its "Saudi partners." European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the attacks by Iran's proxies are "pushing the region into a spiral of violence.""They are destabilizing crucial global transport and energy nodes," she wrote on X. The attack struck an airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak to the media.The Saudi statement said the dead included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese. It said several hospitals were treating the 309 people injured, some in serious condition.The Egyptian woman was a flight attendant identified as Azza Ramzy, 28, who worked for the Saudi airline Flynas, according to the Egyptian state-run Al-Qahera News television.The Houthis claimed attacks earlier in the week on King Khalid International Airport that killed three Saudis, including a pilot. The airport has no military facilities.The surge in attacks, including against other Saudi airports, military facilities and oil infrastructure, has come in the week since a Saudi-led coalition launched a major military offensive against the Houthis. In: Iran Saudi Arabia Houthi Houthis claim they struck Riyadh's main airport in Saudi Arabia 04:43 Houthis claim they struck Riyadh's main airport in Saudi Arabia (04:43)