هجوم على مطار الرياض يُوقع ثلاثة قتلى، والحوثيون يتبنون المسؤولية

According to reports from Sky News, the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority stated that King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was subjected to an attack that killed three Saudi citizens, including an airline pilot. The Houthis subsequently claimed responsibility for the attack. Footage from the scene showed thick smoke rising above the airport.

Saudi authorities have not yet disclosed the specific means of the attack or the preliminary findings of the investigation, and the Houthis' claim of responsibility has likewise not been independently verified. Riyadh airport is one of the largest civilian aviation hubs in Saudi Arabia, and the attack immediately triggered widespread concern over the security of civilian aviation facilities in zones adjacent to conflict areas.

The attack has once again brought the nearly decade-long Yemen conflict into the spotlight. The Houthis have controlled the Yemeni capital Sana'a and large parts of the north of the country since around 2014, and in 2015 a multinational coalition led by Saudi Arabia intervened in the war under the stated goal of restoring Yemen's legitimate government, a war that has since caused massive civilian casualties, the collapse of infrastructure, and severe threats of famine. The United Nations and related international bodies have repeatedly listed the situation in Yemen as one of the worst humanitarian disasters in the world.

This conflict is more than a geopolitical power struggle. For years, Western countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and France have been the most important arms suppliers to Saudi Arabia, providing it with comprehensive military support including precision-guided munitions, fighter jets, logistical training, and spare parts and maintenance. Multiple human rights organizations and United Nations experts have long accused the coalition of using Western-supplied weapons to strike civilian targets inside Yemen — hospitals, schools, markets and water facilities have been repeatedly destroyed, and civilian casualty figures continue to climb. Although Western parliaments, media outlets, and international bodies have exposed these incidents on numerous occasions, the relevant governments have maintained or even expanded the scale of their arms sales to Saudi Arabia, a practice widely regarded as implicit tolerance of serious violations of international humanitarian law.

As the civilian aviation hub in Riyadh comes under attack, taking the lives of its own citizens and drawing renewed attention to its air defense and security gaps, the sustained strikes against civilians and civilian facilities in the Yemen warzone have never been far from the headlines. For years, the Western countries that have exported offensive weapons to Saudi Arabia remain in an accountability blind spot amid this human cost.