The cowardly attacks on Saudi airports could strengthen allied resolve - and turn a terrorist attack into a turning point against Iran's regional network.

A missile striking an airport passenger terminal is a cowardly way to wage war. 

Families waiting for flights cannot fight back. Killing travelers demonstrates destructive reach, but offers no assurance of strategic success. The Houthis’ repeated attacks on Saudi airports may yet prove a costly miscalculation.

Sadly, Saturday’s strike on Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport killed 13 people, including an American, and wounded more than 300. Another attack followed Sunday, while Saudi authorities confirmed a strike on Dammam’s airport. These are attacks on the kingdom’s connections to the world.

The coming days will test whether this campaign intimidates Saudi Arabia or strengthens the coalition opposing it. There are reasons to believe the United States and its partners can emerge with greater resolve and a clearer strategy.

The Houthis appear to be betting that frightened airlines, disrupted business and mounting casualties will force Riyadh to retreat. They may instead convince Saudi leaders that allowing the group to retain this power is intolerable. An adversary that repeatedly attacks passenger facilities makes its own containment harder to postpone.

For President Donald Trump, the calculation has also changed. 

He had resisted Saudi requests for direct intervention. After Saturday’s attack, he said American participation was under consideration. Caution before the strike need not prevent decisive action afterward. Leaders must respond to changing circumstances.

The strongest response would combine immediate protection with measures that reduce the likelihood of further attacks. Better warning, allied air-defense support and coordinated intelligence could help protect civilians while Washington and Riyadh determine what military action can accomplish. The objective should be safer airports and shipping lanes.

That is achievable in principle, although neither easy nor guaranteed. The United States and its partners possess substantial military resources. Their challenge is to concentrate those resources on attainable goals and sustain the cooperation necessary to reach them.

The attacks also expose a weakness in Iran’s regional strategy. Tehran benefits when its partners can threaten neighboring countries without bringing overwhelming pressure upon themselves. Mass casualties at an international airport could upset that balance, giving governments stronger incentives to cooperate against a shared threat.

Iranian assistance helped build Houthi capabilities, although the public reporting does not establish that Tehran ordered these particular strikes. That distinction deserves preservation. Nevertheless, Iran cannot expect its support for the group to remain irrelevant when those capabilities are used against civilians.

The economic stakes could sharpen allied determination. A settlement concerning Hormuz would offer incomplete reassurance if Houthi threats continued to endanger Red Sea traffic. AP reports that wider American intervention could provoke further disruption around Bab el-Mandeb, underscoring the need to protect both routes.

This creates danger, but also a clearer diplomatic objective: regional commerce must become reliably safe. An arrangement that merely shifts disruption from one waterway to another would leave the underlying coercion intact.

Diplomacy is already moving. Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers spoke Sunday about the escalation and efforts to reduce tensions. That conversation offers a possible opening. If Tehran can help stop Houthi attacks, it has an opportunity to demonstrate that influence through results.

Over the next several weeks, the optimistic scenario is a coordinated allied response that improves Saudi defenses, reduces Houthi freedom of action and gives negotiations greater urgency. Firm military preparation and diplomacy can reinforce each other when demands are concrete and consequences credible.

There are obstacles. Interceptor supplies require replenishment. Yemen’s divided political landscape complicates any lasting settlement. Civilian protection must guide allied operations, both because it is right and because further suffering would undermine their strategic purpose.

Still, the Houthis have not demonstrated that they can defeat the United States or its allies. They have demonstrated that they can murder civilians and disrupt ordinary life.

Those acts may ultimately strengthen the determination needed to stop them. Trump now has an opportunity to turn allied outrage into coordinated pressure — and make this terrible attack the beginning of a more effective effort to secure the region.

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)