Iran-backed Houthi militants killed at least 12 people, including one American, and injured more than 300 in a missile strike Saturday on Saudi Arabia’s busiest airport. The attack came as President Donald Trump considered whether to support Saudi-led military action against the group.

The strike hit the King Khalid International Airport complex in Riyadh, home to two passenger terminals. Panic spread among travelers, hospitals in the area were flooded with casualties, and officials halted operations at the kingdom’s main aviation hub.

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation reported 12 deaths and 309 injuries, with several victims in critical condition. Those killed included four Saudis, two Bangladeshis, and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Sudan, and Palestine.

The Wall Street Journal described the assault as Saudi Arabia’s deadliest in more than a decade. It followed a sharp escalation in Houthi missile attacks targeting airports and other civilian sites across the kingdom.

The deadly strike also intensified speculation that the United States could enter the renewed conflict directly.

When reporters asked outside the White House whether he had decided to join Saudi-led strikes against the Houthis, Trump said:

“We may. We’re going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we’ll make a decision. We move very quickly.”

Trump announced no policy change. His comments also came before Saudi officials publicly confirmed that an American citizen was among those killed.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later condemned the attack, specifically noting the American death and reaffirming U.S. backing for Saudi Arabia.

“The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today’s strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen,” Rubio wrote Saturday. “These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now. We stand with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people and extend our condolences to the victims and their families.”

Saturday’s assault marked the third strike on Riyadh’s main international airport in a single week. The attacks accelerated after Saudi-backed forces launched a major counteroffensive in Yemen.

The missile hit the section containing Terminals 3 and 4. According to the Wall Street Journal, both terminals sustained direct impacts, while eyewitnesses described explosions, confusion, and passengers scrambling for safety.

“I was on gate 403. I saw [gate] 401 hit, I saw injured [people] in front of my eyes. Everyone was running,” one witness told Agence France-Presse.

Ambulances and helicopters transported the wounded to nearby hospitals, where staff faced a sudden surge of patients. Several of those injured remained in critical condition.

Reuters, citing people briefed on the incident—including Western officials—reported that Saudi Arabia’s threat-warning system issued no public alert before the strike.

The Houthis later claimed responsibility. The Iran-backed group’s media chief asserted that the attack had “shut down Riyadh international airport.”

The group had previously labeled Saudi airspace a military zone and warned commercial airlines against operating without Houthi authorization. After Saturday’s strike, its military spokesman reposted a warning saying only approved humanitarian flights could land in Riyadh, ending with the words: “a reminder.”

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Saudi officials canceled or rerouted flights and temporarily closed the airport. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh advised Americans to stay away, saying it “strongly recommends all US citizens avoid this airport and surrounding areas.”

The Saudi-led coalition called the attack on the airport a “full-blown war crime” and promised a decisive military response.

Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, the coalition’s spokesman, called the strike a “terrorist act that will be met with a firm response.”

“The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition will respond to this terrorist attack firmly and in accordance with international humanitarian law and its customary rules,” he said.

Saturday’s massacre came less than a week after Yemen’s internationally recognized government announced Operation Yemen Dawn, a major counteroffensive to reclaim strategic territory seized during a rapid Houthi offensive along the country’s Red Sea coastline.

The campaign was announced Sunday, with the Saudi-led coalition launching its own military operation the following day in Yemen’s Hodeidah province. The offensive followed weeks of Houthi territorial gains around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital maritime chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis had threatened to obstruct Saudi-linked shipping through Bab el-Mandeb, threatening a critical alternative export route as the wider war with Iran disrupted maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Saudi-backed forces have claimed gains around Bab el-Mandeb and nearby Perim Island, although control of the strategically important territory remains disputed.

The counteroffensive has been accompanied by Saudi-led airstrikes against Houthi missile facilities and military positions, while the terrorist group has intensified its attacks on Saudi airports and other infrastructure.

Earlier in the week, Houthi missile attacks on airports in Riyadh and Abha killed three civilians and wounded dozens more, as Saudi forces continued striking missile-storage facilities, command centers, and launch sites inside Yemen.

Additional strikes on Riyadh’s airport later Thursday killed three Saudi citizens, including an airline pilot, and damaged a Saudi commercial aircraft, according to Saudi authorities.

Al-Maliki warned before Saturday’s attack that the Houthi strikes “will not go unpunished.”

Saturday’s attack killed more people in a single assault than the earlier airport strikes combined, marking the deadliest escalation yet in the Houthis’ renewed campaign against Saudi Arabia.

Washington has already provided Saudi Arabia with intelligence, targeting assistance, and operational planning support against the Houthis, while also facilitating Israeli intelligence coordination through U.S. Central Command.

Direct American strikes, however, would represent a significant expansion of Washington’s military role in the conflict.

With Saudi Arabia vowing retaliation, Rubio condemning the killing of an American citizen, and Trump openly considering joining the kingdom’s military campaign, Saturday’s attack has brought the possibility of direct U.S. intervention in Yemen into sharper focus.

When it comes to weddings, true poshness is not necessarily measured by how much money is spent.

Often, the most genuinely upper-class approach is defined by restraint, tradition and discretion — and, whisper it, by avoiding anything considered overly American.

Over the past decade, a number of American wedding customs have found their way into British ceremonies. These include marrying later in the day, rather than choosing the morning weddings traditionally favoured by the upper classes, and replacing the morning suit with a tuxedo.

Shock, horror!

For a closer look at the rules of a truly posh wedding, there is perhaps no better place to turn than the royal goldfish bowl.

From Pippa Middleton’s reported decision to keep couples apart at her wedding — a move said to have annoyed Meghan Markle — to Princess Anne’s wonderfully understated second marriage, featuring a simple dress and black shoes, the royals provide a fascinating guide to what is genuinely posh and what is decidedly tosh.

Now, our etiquette expert examines the principles of a truly royal wedding, revealing who deserves a thumbs-up and who would receive a very un-posh red card.

1. DON’T MAKE A FUSS

When it comes to being truly posh, keeping things simple can make a far greater impression than putting on a lavish display.

Princess Anne understood that perfectly when she married Tim Laurence for the second time in 1992.

Just 30 guests attended the ceremony at Crathie Kirk, while Anne chose a simple cream cocktail dress and black shoes.

Her choices conveyed the ultimate upper-class confidence: she had no need to advertise her status with an enormous spectacle.

Julius F Smith, a former royal butler to the late Queen Elizabeth II and founder of Regal Afternoon Tea, says Anne’s second wedding perfectly embodied high-class restraint.

“I always think that a second marriage should be low-key. You’re not making a fuss, and I think upper-class people would raise an eyebrow if you wanted to make a second wedding as big as your first wedding.”

“Also, only 30 guests came, and those are the special people that she really wanted to spend the day with.”

Posh points: 5/5

2. TRADITION IS THE NAME OF THE GAME

Nothing says old money quite like wearing your grandmother’s wedding dress.

Princess Beatrice did exactly that when she married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at Windsor in 2020, wearing the Queen’s Norman Hartnell dress, lent to her by her grandmother.

Rather than opting for something new and Instagrammable, Beatrice chose family history and showed that true luxury can be about what you inherit, not what you buy.

‘I think it’s a lovely thing to pass something down through the generations, says Julius F Smith. It demonstrates upper-class thrift and it’s also quite romantic and unflashy.

Posh points: 5/5

3. KNOW WHEN TO KEEP THE PARTY GOING- AND WHEN TO STOP

There is a school of thought that truly posh British etiquette is to have the magnificent wedding and then let everyone go home.

But Princess Eugenie went for the fairground.

The younger sister of Princess Beatrice showed more American leanings when her wedding celebrations continued into a second day, complete with a carnival and fairground theme.

Vanity Fair reported carnival games and lavish entertainment, but our etiquette expert thought it was a step too far.

‘This was flash and attention-grabbing, which does mark a departure from understated upper-class values,’ says Julius F Smith.

‘I think you do the traditional thing and then the next day after the wedding, people just want to relax. A whole fairground theme is quite crass, really.’

Posh points: 1/5

4. SEPARATE THE COUPLES

Meghan Markle met the Middleton’s for the first time when she arrived as Prince Harry’s plus-one at Pippa Middleton’s classic country wedding in 2017.

And it wasn’t just the cold British weather that may have put the Duchess out of her comfort zone.

Pippa followed the old aristocratic tradition of seating couples apart at dinner unlike the American custom of placing husbands and wives together.

According to Julius F Smith, however, separating couples is not only the proper way to do it, but encourages guests to mingle.

‘Splitting couples up is definitely the right thing to do because then you get to meet other people,’ he says.

‘The trouble is, if you get a couple who are a bit insular, they just end up talking to each other all day and that’s no good.

‘So, you can have a good chat and meet new people, then with your partner you can discuss how it all went.’

And the former royal butler says Pippa had the wedding so many people aspire to.

‘Pippa had a lot to live up to because she almost stole the limelight from her sister Kate on her wedding day.

‘But her wedding was what people in England think of as the fairytale wedding. She married a very wealthy man, beautiful church, everything is beautiful, all the guests beautifully dressed and no doubt a stunning reception with excellent food.

‘I think that’s what everybody would love to do if they could.’

Posh points: 5/5

5. DON’T CONFUSE CELEBRITY WITH STATUS

Meghan Markle’s 2018 wedding to Prince Harry was the ultimate collision between royal tradition and Hollywood celebrity culture.

There was the grand Givenchy gown, the lavish setting and a guest list packed with A-listers, including George and Amal Clooney and Oprah Winfrey.

But, according to Julius F Smith, celebrity alone does not necessarily equal status.

‘Visually, Meghan and Harry’s wedding looked stunning, but it did unravel because I don’t think it stood the test of time,’ he says.

‘Mainly because a lot of the A-listers in attendance didn’t know why they were there, which is almost desperate.’

He adds: ‘I think perhaps Meghan thought she could ingratiate herself with the great and good of Hollywood, but she forgot that many of them know the side their bread is buttered on and didn’t want to fall out of favour with the Crown. It’s all very sad.’

Posh points: 3/5

6. NEVER, EVER LOOK AS THOUGH YOU’RE MONETISING THE WEDDING

There is nothing inherently un-posh about having an expensive wedding.

But there is something decidedly indiscreet about turning the family photo album into a commercial transaction.

Prince William was said to be less than impressed when his cousin Peter Phillips made a deal with Hello! magazine for his wedding to Autumn Kelly at St George’s Chapel in 2008.

And royal expert Julius F Smith believes members of the extended Royal Family have a responsibility to behave discreetly.

‘Is this a commercial event or your wedding day?’ he says.

‘If you invite Hello! in, nobody is going to relax because their every move will be scrutinised. I think it’s in terrible taste.

“The minor royals get a lot of advantages and get invited to a lot of places that they wouldn’t normally, but with that comes responsibility.’

Posh points: 1/5

So perhaps the ultimate exemplar is Princess Anne.

Her second wedding was tiny by royal standards but perfectly summed up upper-class thrift and style. Her outfit was unfussy; the guest list was intimate and there was no attempt to turn the occasion into an attention-seeking spectacle.

In the strange social science of British high society, it is precisely this refusal to show off that makes Anne the poshest of them all.

ENDS