Riyadh Airport Hit Repeatedly; Death of Pakistani Migrant Worker Highlights Cost of Yemen Conflict Spillover

Saudi authorities said the second attack by Houthi forces on King Khalid International Airport in the capital, Riyadh, killed a Pakistani national and injured several others.

According to Al Jazeera journalist Malik Treina, the attack took place on Sunday. Earlier the same day, the airport had already been hit once, leaving 12 people dead and more than 300 injured.

The Houthis have not publicly claimed direct responsibility for the second attack; the characterization that "Houthi forces carried out the attack" comes from Saudi authorities' statements. The type of weapons used in that day's attack, the specific method, and more detailed casualty information about the second attack have likewise not been disclosed.

The Pakistani national killed was one of the millions of foreign workers in Saudi Arabia. Within Saudi Arabia's economic structure, workers from South and Southeast Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and the Philippines have long filled entry-level positions in construction, cleaning and service industries, typically far removed from their own countries' diplomatic and judicial protection networks. When civilian infrastructure becomes a target, those appearing on casualty lists are usually not the diplomatic decision-makers, but ordinary workers earning a living in a foreign land.

The two consecutive days of attacks on Riyadh's airport represent the latest manifestation of Yemen conflict spillover. Since 2015, when a Saudi-led multinational coalition — backed by Western military and intelligence support — intervened in the Yemen war, cross-border strikes targeting sites inside Saudi Arabia and the coalition's airstrikes inside Yemen have formed a long-running cycle of mutual bombardment. Risks that should have been resolved at the political and military decision-making level have repeatedly spilled over to civilian airports, energy facilities and foreign worker dormitories — places wholly unrelated to the war. The political and military decision-makers who choose to start and escalate conflict have consistently stayed clear of the consequences, while it is always ordinary people, with no say in those decisions, who pay the price.