At least three people died on Wednesday when Houthi strikes hit Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The Houthis hit Riyadh’s airport again on Thursday. Video shared on social media showed at least two drones striking the facility, while regional officials told Middle East Eye that at least one Saudi commercial aircraft had suffered severe damage. Lufthansa said it would cancel all flights to Riyadh until 16 October.
The strikes came as US President Donald Trump tried to calm a region bracing for something worse. “We are having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the midterm elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd.”
His pledge followed reports from several news outlets, including Axios, which is described as close to Trump and his aides, that the Pentagon was preparing to resume high-intensity strikes on Iran. The Atlantic also reported Trump was weighing an attack before the elections. Brent crude rose 4.5 percent on Thursday amid the reports and confirmation that Iran had attacked a new vessel in the Gulf. One tanker took a hit Wednesday off Qatar, about 500 kilometres west of the Strait of Hormuz. Another came under attack off Oman, outside the waterway.
A Regional War Widens
Direct fighting between the United States and Iran had largely subsided. But the US-Israeli attack on Iran had spread into a regional war centred on Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and its allies were trying to push back the Houthis after the group launched a sweeping offensive down the Red Sea coast the previous month. Saudi Arabia backs Yemen’s internationally recognised government. Iran has supplied the Houthis with arms and training.
That week, the kingdom activated a new joint defence pact with Turkey and Pakistan. Middle East Eye reported Turkey would send weapons systems, including air defence batteries, and troops to defend Saudi Arabia. Pakistan told CNN it was sending weapons to help protect the kingdom. The New York Times reported on Thursday that Pakistani warplanes were flying over Yemen and striking Houthi targets. Islamabad denied the report, saying Pakistan was providing only defensive support.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan set limits on his country’s role. “But this is a defensive agreement. When a country party to the pact comes under attack, you stand by it in its defence. This is not an offensive agreement. Turkey will not send troops to another country to carry out attacks on its territory,” Fidan said.
Saudi Arabia blamed the Houthis for strikes on the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina. The group denied attacking them. Qatar, Syria and Somalia were among regional states that condemned Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia.
Gaza’s Shadow Over the Region
The Houthis had won sympathy among some in the wider Arab and Muslim world for attacks on Israel, which they said defended besieged Palestinians in Gaza. Those attacks followed the Hamas-led assaults on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, which sparked Israel’s assault on Gaza. Three years on, more than 74,000 Palestinians have died in what the United Nations and genocide scholars have called a genocide.
The Houthi strikes on Saudi airports show how a war that began with the Hamas-led assault and Israel’s response in Gaza keeps producing new civilian victims far from the original front.
The Economic Squeeze
Energy analytics firm Kpler reported that oil flows through Hormuz reached almost 90 percent of pre-war levels in late September. Prices stayed high all the same. Over the previous month, diesel prices in the United States had climbed 14 percent to around $6 per gallon. Middle Eastern refineries weren’t running at full capacity, and refined petroleum product flows through Hormuz were roughly half of pre-war levels.
The Gulf states took the heaviest blows early on. Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates were hit hardest after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, while Saudi Arabia was relatively spared. The new attacks damaged Saudi Arabia’s image as an international business hub.
Why This Matters:
Trump’s promise is a pause tied to an election date, not a settlement. It leaves a hard deadline hanging over millions of people across the Gulf. Civilians are already paying the price: three dead in Saudi Arabia, airline routes cut, tankers burning and fuel prices climbing. The war has spread from Iran to Yemen to the Saudi heartland, drawing in Turkey and Pakistan, while the United States has refused to become publicly involved in fighting the Houthis. Gaza’s death toll of more than 74,000 stands behind much of the regional anger. Without a diplomatic track that reaches beyond the next election, retaliation will likely keep spreading. Lufthansa said it would cancel all flights to Riyadh until 16 October.