Trump says U.S. could join fight against Houthis

An unidentified projectile struck Saudi Arabia’s main international airport Sunday, injuring people a day after a deadly missile attack at the same site raised questions about whether the United States would join another conflict in the region.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation confirmed injuries in the new attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh but did not provide a count. It said authorities were assessing damage and checking the safety of airport facilities.

The Saudi-led coalition said the projectile struck Terminal 4, causing a fire that authorities were working to control. It also reported intercepting and destroying a cruise missile near the airport.

Saturday’s strike killed at least 13 people and injured more than 300, according to Saudi civil aviation authorities. The victims included one American as well as four citizens of Saudi Arabia, two Bangladeshi nationals, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Palestinian, a Syrian and one Sudanese.

The Indian Embassy in Saudi Arabia said Sunday that an Indian national injured in Saturday’s attack had died. The embassy said it was in contact with the family and would help repatriate the remains.

Some of the wounded were in critical condition, authorities said, while airport operations remained suspended Sunday.

President Donald Trump said afterward that the U.S. was considering joining Saudi military operations against the Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

“We may. We’re gonna look at it,” Trump told reporters. “We just found out about the recent attack. So we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”

Saturday’s strike drew widespread condemnation and intensified pressure on the kingdom and its allies to respond to the Houthi rebels. The attack was the deadliest to hit the kingdom in a decade and marked a sharp escalation in the Yemen-based Houthis’ campaign against the leading oil exporter, which has already rattled the global economy.

Saudi Arabia’s government and its allies blamed the Houthis for Saturday’s strike. The group did not immediately claim responsibility for the latest attack, although it renewed a warning to stay away from Saudi airports.

Washington also blamed the Houthis for Saturday’s assault, the latest of several on the busy facility in the past week. Three people were killed there in an attack on Thursday.

The attack has drawn fresh scrutiny of Washington’s response to the widening conflict, in which the Houthis have hit Saudi energy infrastructure and seized territory that gives them leverage over shipping in the Red Sea.

The U.S. launched a three-month bombing campaign against the Houthis last year to stop them from targeting shipping through the critical waterway, an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz.

The Saudis will be looking to allies like Pakistan, Turkey, Syria, Egypt and the U.S. for help, said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics.

“But I doubt very much whether there is an answer or even a military solution to the Yemeni conflict,” he told NBC News.

“The Houthis are determined to fight to the end,” Gerges said. “I suspect that the reason why the U.S. has been reluctant is not only because of the Iran war, but also because the U.S. tried for several months to force the Houthis to stand down, and they did not succeed.”

At the same time, the Houthis are becoming “more nimble, more resourceful, more deadly by the day, and I think what we have seen in the past few weeks is that the targeting system of the Houthis has become much more effective,” he said.

Egypt said Sunday that it “stands firmly” with Saudi Arabia, expressing “strong condemnation” for the attacks. Qatar called the missile strike “a grave violation of Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty and a direct threat to regional security.”

Germany and Canada also condemned the attacks, with Prime Minister Mark Carney describing them as “abhorrent.”

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres blamed the Houthis, calling the attack “a violation of international law.” The Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis called the attack a “fully-fledged war crime” and vowed a strong response.

The renewed fighting has developed alongside the broader war involving Iran, with the Houthis stepping up attacks on Saudi territory as Saudi-backed forces battle the group inside Yemen. The latest violence follows the collapse of a truce in July and a renewed Saudi-backed offensive against Houthi positions.

The Houthis have expanded their operations along Yemen’s Red Sea coast and around the Bab el Mandeb Strait, a critical shipping route connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Disruption there threatens international trade and energy shipments, raising fuel prices and adding another source of instability to global markets.

Trump has focused intensely on energy prices ahead of the midterm elections, including a diesel deal with the Kremlin that stunned Ukraine. But he has so far resisted deeper involvement in the Middle East.

After sweeping gains by Houthi forces last month, Trump said the group had contacted the U.S. to stress that they “don’t want to fight with us” and would “much prefer not having us involved.”

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman urged Trump in September to take military action against the Houthis, a person familiar with the matter told NBC News.

“There is a whole lot that America can deliver,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdulla, a retired professor of political science from the United Arab Emirates.

“It doesn’t have to be in the form of going all out against the Houthis, but American sharing of intelligence, America providing the best of defense systems against Houthis’ drones and missiles is needed, and I think if that is delivered, Saudi Arabia and the rest can defend themselves,” he said.

Abdulla also called on Turkey and Pakistan to come to Saudi Arabia’s defense. The three nations signed a joint defense agreement in Mecca in August, a pact of Sunni Muslim U.S. allies alarmed at growing regional conflict.

“Now it’s the time to activate what this alliance treaty involves,” added Abdulla. “That an attack on one is an attack against all.”