After several days of strikes against airports in Saudi Arabia, the Yemen-based Houthi rebels have apparently landed another major blow; this time it was the King Fahd International Airport in the port city of Dammam that was hit, with casualties confirmed but no numbers as of this writing.
Saudi authorities said Sunday that King Fahd International Airport in Dammam has been attacked, with few details. The city is on the Persian Gulf near Bahrain and Qatar.
The statement came hours after authorities said the international airport in the capital, Riyadh, had been attacked once again. The Flightradar24 monitor noted at least one flight diverting from the airport in Dammam.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen have been claiming a series of attacks in the past week on Saudi airports and military and oil facilities.
Previous attacks have been aimed at the King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital city of Riyadh.
Saudi authorities said there were injuries in the latest attack on the King Khalid International Airport complex for terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights. Saturday’s missile attack was the deadliest in a Gulf Arab nation since the Iran war began, with another 300 people wounded, some critically. The airport was still closed Sunday.
Estimated death tolls in the attacks are reported to be at least 13.
President Trump has previously offered support to the Saudis in their efforts against the Houthis, as RedState's own Nick Arama reported Saturday. Nick writes:
President Donald Trump indicated that he is evaluating whether the U.S. should join Saudi strikes to stop the Houthis in Yemen.
“We may. We’re going to look at it,” Trump said. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”
Saudi Arabia is almost certainly the closest thing we have to an ally in that part of the world, among Muslim-majority nations. Honestly they owe America for holding several Iraqi divisions out of their country in 1990-1991; lest we forget, Iraq did actually push into Saudi Arabia early in 1991, in the Battle of Khafji. Full disclosure: When that battle was going on, I was briefly close enough to that battle to hear tank cannon and even machine gun fire, which is as close as I ever got to the ground fighting, a fact that years later doesn't trouble me much.
Now, we may be helping them to contend with Houthi rebels. Saudi Arabia currently has the 5th most powerful military in the Middle East, behind Turkey, Israel, Iran and Egypt, none of whom would likely be too anxious to jump into this scrap. Most of the Saudi army's armor are American-made, including M1A2 tanks and some older M60A3s, along with some F-15 fighters. They should be able to deal with the Houthis; the support President Trump has specifically mentioned included signals intelligence and reconnaissance support. The Saudis are also in a military alliance with Pakistan and Turkey, the Mecca Defense Alliance, which would presumably involve direct support against the Houthis — although neither Turkey nor Pakistan have made any moves yet.
Thinks in the Middle East just keep getting more and more interesting. Stay tuned.