Saudi Arabia says missile strikes by Iran's Houthi allies killed three people at Riyadh's airport as fighting escalates in the Middle East conflict's new epicenter.
Page A208From§Eachthe afternoon edition — 9 October 2026
The US answer to three deaths at Riyadh's airport was filed days earlier: back the Saudi offensive.
You will read three dead at Riyadh's airport this week and call it an escalation. It is a schedule. A missile came over Riyadh in 2018; drones reached Jeddah and Abha in 2021; in September at least 73 Saudi civilians were wounded and the kingdom promised a response. It launched strikes on 14 September, and the United Nations counted 86,000 Yemenis displaced. On 22 September the G7 condemned the attacks on Saudi Arabia "in the strongest terms" — condemned, mind you, not curtailed. On 4 October Washington backed the Saudi-led offensive to retake territory holding about 70 percent of Yemen's population. Third round, third renewal. And the resolution in Congress that would halt the materiel — the crates, the ordnance on the manifest? Unpassed ... which is not a loss. A resolution that does not pass leaves the sale exactly as written. Nothing broke. The offensive is for all of it, Sanaa included.
The gate, no man mends. Each winter the fox comes back.
“Three people are dead at an airport and Washington's answer was already in the mail — back the offensive, go retake the 70 percent of Yemen where the people actually live. Eighty-six thousand Yemenis were pushed out of their homes last month and the G7's big move was telling Iran to knock it off. They tell you there's no money for anything you need; there's money, it just gets spent over there.”
“The G7 — all of them, in the strongest terms — told Iran to stop arming these people, so let's be clear about who started it here. Nobody is funding an offensive, we're supporting a partner's right to defend its own airports, and if Congress had a problem they would hold a vote. Did I say funding? That doesn't sound like me.”
Earlier in this story
- Riyadh's airport struck again, called deadliest yet, same as September, same as 2018. By Sal · the afternoon edition, 8 October 2026
- Twenty years after Russia cut Europe's gas, Kushner is negotiating America's cut of selling it back By Sterling · the morning edition, 8 October 2026
- OpenAI pledges to cut election spending; the same month it fired the researchers flagging its risks. By Ruth · the late evening edition, 5 October 2026
- California's wildfire accountability bill dies in Sacramento, resurfaces as a lawsuit against homeowners' own insurer. By The Wrecking Crew · the early evening edition, 5 October 2026
- G7 drains 100 million barrels to fix a war's price spike, saves Americans a few pennies By Sal · the early bird edition, 2 October 2026
- Trump demands G7 drain 100 million barrels of reserves to fix diesel crisis his war on Iran caused. By The Lodgers · the noon edition, 2 October 2026
The receipts
· Saudi Arabia promises response to Houthi attacks from the morgue, 8 Sep 2026
· Is Yemen Heading Back to All-Out War? Saudis Launch Strikes as Houthis Take Control of Red Sea Coast from the morgue, 14 Sep 2026
· US Backs Major Saudi-Led Offensive as Yemen Slides Back Toward All-Out War from the morgue, 4 Oct 2026
· F Lead Iran must stop arming Yemen's Houthi forces, say the G7 from the morgue, 22 Sep 2026
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.