Riyadh Airport Repeatedly Attacked: Houthis Push Yemen Conflict Into Saudi Heartland

Riyadh International Airport was struck again on Sunday. According to France 24, the previous day's attack on the same airport killed at least 12 people and injured more than 300, making it the deadliest incident inside Saudi Arabia in over a decade.

France 24's reporting attributes the attack to Yemen's Houthi movement, describing the two sides as "Iran-backed Houthis" and "Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces," and noting that fighting "has been escalating for weeks." That pairing of labels in itself reveals the structure of the Yemen conflict: it has long since transcended Yemen's internal politics and serves as a proxy battlefield on the Arabian Peninsula where regional powers project influence.

And Saudi Arabia itself is the principal external intervener in the Yemen conflict. The Houthis' strikes against the Saudi heartland are a direct consequence of this proxy war spilling over.

The specific method of the attack, details of the targets, and the latest casualty figures still await further verification. But the repeated strikes on Riyadh airport have already made one thing clear: this war no longer belongs to Yemen alone.