Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 14.10.2026
Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority said on Monday night that one person was killed and 11 others were wounded in an attack by Houthi rebels on the airport in Riyadh last night. It was also reported that a fire broke out at the site. The Saudi Aviation Authority also reported yesterday an attack on Dammam airport.
At the same time, Saudi sources told the Wall Street Journal that the stockpile of interceptors needed to stop further Houthi rebels from Yemen was running low. Yesterday, the Houthis warned airlines, airport workers and passengers against using Saudi airports. They stressed that the warning should be taken seriously and claimed that the kingdom “bears responsibility for failed interception attempts.”
Last night’s attack at the Riyadh airport was the second in recent days, after a Houthi missile fired there on Saturday killed 12 people and wounded 309. A missile hit the passenger terminal, and the port was evacuating its passengers. According to the British Guardian the missile hit Terminals 3 and 4, which are used for domestic flights. More than half of the flights scheduled to take off from the airport today are expected to be canceled.
The Dammam airport, which took over operations from Riyadh, was also shut down after yesterday’s attack.
Saudi Arabia’s state news agency reported tonight that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan met. After the meeting, Araghchi wrote on his Telegram account that Iran was ready to help promote dialogue between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. However, it is unclear whether the Houthis will accept this Iranian intervention. The Houthis are not an appendix of Iran.
Against the backdrop of the continued fighting in Yemen and the Houthi attacks, Saudi Arabia continues to build new regional military partnerships with Türkiye and Pakistan, known as the Mecca Accords. However, the alliance does not, by itself, guarantee a change in the military situation. Since the Houthis took control of Sana’a in 2014, Saudi Arabia has faced its inability to achieve victory in Yemen. The split between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, partners in the coalition against the Houthis, has also made it difficult to restore a unified policy and a joint force. Now, despite attempts to expand regional cooperation, the Houthis continue to maintain their ability to strike sensitive targets. Diplomatic efforts to halt the escalation continue. On October 10, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Oman discussed regional developments and the need to promote calm. Oman, which has served for years as a mediation channel between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, continues to work to renew the political process in Yemen. However, the Houthis have rejected Saudi Arabia’s peace roadmap, and the chances of reaching an agreement remain low.
The Houthi attacks illustrate that even a traditional military advantage does not guarantee protection against missiles and drones, and that an armed militia that controls part of Yemen can threaten the vital infrastructure and economy of a regional power.
The United States’ refusal to intervene directly against the Houthis this time, along with trends of reducing its presence in parts of the Middle East, has raised questions among regional rulers about the extent of American commitment in times of crisis.
It is obvious that Trump wants to focus on Latin America, considered by the U.S. as its backyard as it is no longer the single superpower it was after the collapse of Stalinist Russia.
Reuters news agency reported on October 8 that Saudi Arabia and Syria are discussing the possibility of sending Syrian forces to participate in the campaign against the Houthis in Yemen. However, officials in Damascus denied that Saudi Arabia had asked to send Syrian troops to the campaign, stressing that Syria was focused on rehabilitating it and avoiding the opening of new fronts.
The changing regional reality also affects Israel, which has fronts in the Syrian, Lebanese, and Palestinian territories, and as it wants to prepare for an attack on Iran, while its army is exhausted after 3 years of war, it cannot provide Saudi Arabia with military help. Thus, getting Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords is a pipe dream. Thus, the Zionist dream of a new Middle East has turned into a nightmare for Israel.
While Saudi Arabia and Yemen are not imperialist states, the interest of the international working class is in the defeat of Saudi Arabia and the victory of the pro-Palestinian Houthis. In the Manifesto adopted at the IV congress of the RCIT we read:
“As Marxists, we strictly differentiate between just wars and unjust wars, wars of oppression and wars of liberation. Just wars are armed insurrections and civil wars of the working class and the popular masses against the ruling class, of oppressed nations against their oppressors, of democratic forces against reactionary and fascist opponents. Just wars are wars of national defense of semi-colonial countries against imperialist aggressors. Reactionary wars are wars of the ruling class resp. imperialist powers against the oppressed, as well as military conflicts between sectors of the ruling class, resp. between reactionary or imperialist states.”