Level 1 - Absolute Beginner
There is a big airport in Riyadh. Riyadh is the capital city of Saudi Arabia. The airport has a big problem now.
Four attacks hit the airport in five days. On Saturday a missile kills 13 people. More than 300 people are hurt.
On Sunday night something hits the ground near the planes. One worker dies. Eleven people go to the hospital. There is a fire.
The airport is closed. No planes fly from it. Many people wait for news.
- airport
- a place where planes take off and land
- capital
- the main city of a country
- attack
- when someone tries to hurt people or a place
- missile
- a weapon that flies through the air and explodes
- hurt
- having pain or damage in the body
- hospital
- a place where sick or hurt people get help
- closed
- not open and not working
- worker
- a person who has a job in a place
Level 2 - Elementary
President Trump must decide whether the United States will join the fight against the Houthis in Yemen. The reason is King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, which has been attacked four times in five days and has been closed since Saturday.
The worst attack came on Saturday, when a Houthi missile killed 12 people and wounded more than 300. India's embassy later said that an Indian citizen died from his injuries, so the total number of deaths rose to 13.
On Sunday evening, at about 8:30 p.m. local time, a projectile landed on the tarmac next to parked planes. One airport worker, a Pakistani resident, was killed and 11 people were injured. The strike hit terminals 3 and 4, which are used for flights inside the country.
President Trump has said that he is thinking about whether the United States should join the fight against the Houthis. Saudi officials are still checking the damage, and nobody knows when the airport will open again.
- international
- connected with more than one country
- wounded
- injured, usually in a fight or an attack
- embassy
- the office that represents one country inside another country
- projectile
- an object that is fired or thrown through the air
- tarmac
- the hard surface at an airport where planes park and move
- terminal
- the building at an airport where passengers wait and board
- resident
- a person who lives in a place, often coming from another country
- damage
- harm that makes something broken or weaker
Level 3 - Intermediate
The question in Washington this week is no longer whether the war in Yemen matters to the United States, but whether American forces will enter it. Four strikes in five days have turned King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh into the most dangerous address in Saudi Arabia, and it has been shut since Saturday, when a Houthi missile killed 12 people and wounded more than 300 in what officials describe as the deadliest attack inside the kingdom since the war with Iran began in late February.
The death toll from that strike later rose to 13 after India's embassy confirmed that one of its citizens had died of his injuries. On Sunday at around 8:30 p.m. local time, a projectile struck the tarmac beside parked aircraft serving terminals 3 and 4, killing a Pakistani airport worker and injuring 11 others. A passenger on a taxiing plane told Reuters that the aircraft turned back to the gate while a fire burned outside. Attacks on Thursday had already killed at least three Saudi citizens, among them a pilot.
The Houthis claimed responsibility for the earlier strikes, and the Saudi led coalition has promised a firm response. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has asked Washington for help, and President Trump says he is weighing whether American forces should join the campaign. Iran, for its part, has urged Riyadh to choose diplomacy instead.
The stakes reach far beyond one runway. The Houthis seized territory along the Bab al-Mandeb strait last month, a shipping route that carriers have used as an alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. Analysts warn that if the United States enters the fight, the group could try to close that passage as well, squeezing oil supplies and freight costs worldwide.
- hub
- a central place that connects many routes or activities
- death toll
- the total number of people killed in an event
- coalition
- a group of countries or parties working together toward one goal
- claim responsibility
- to say publicly that you carried out an action
- taxiing
- moving slowly along the ground, used about aircraft
- diplomacy
- the work of solving problems between countries through talks
- strait
- a narrow stretch of water connecting two larger seas
- freight
- goods carried in large amounts by ship, plane, or truck
Level 4 - Advanced
A decision sits on the President's desk, and a closed airport is the argument for taking it. Four strikes in five days have reduced King Khalid International Airport, the principal aviation gateway to the Saudi capital, to a shuttered crime scene. Saturday's Houthi missile proved the most lethal, killing 12 and wounding more than 300 before the figure climbed to 13 when India's embassy confirmed that one of its nationals had succumbed to his injuries. By the reckoning of Saudi officials, it was the bloodiest incident on Saudi soil since the United States and Israel opened their campaign against Iran in late February.
Sunday's attack was smaller in scale but heavier with symbolism. A projectile landed on the apron beside aircraft serving terminals 3 and 4, the facility's domestic wings, at roughly 8:30 p.m. local time, killing a Pakistani airport employee and injuring 11 others. A passenger aboard a taxiing jet described the aircraft reversing to its gate as flames rose from the tarmac. The General Authority of Civil Aviation has yet to attribute Sunday's strike, though the Houthis claimed the preceding attacks, including a Thursday barrage that killed at least three Saudis, a pilot among them.
The diplomatic arithmetic is now unforgiving. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has pressed Washington for direct support, and President Trump has signalled that he is weighing American entry into a conflict that polling suggests his own electorate views with little enthusiasm. Tehran has responded by counselling restraint and urging Riyadh toward negotiation, a posture that costs Iran little while its allies absorb the burden of the fighting.
What hangs in the balance is less a terminal building than a maritime corridor. Having consolidated positions along Bab al-Mandeb last month, the Houthis hold leverage over a passage that shippers had treated as insurance against disruption at Hormuz. Should American forces join the Saudi led coalition, the group's most plausible retaliation is not another airport strike but a squeeze on that corridor, with consequences for crude benchmarks, insurance premiums, and freight rates that would be felt in economies with no stake whatever in Yemen.
- gateway
- a place that serves as the main entry point to a region
- lethal
- causing or able to cause death
- succumb
- to die from an illness or injury after a struggle
- apron
- the paved area at an airport where aircraft park and are serviced
- attribute
- to say that something was caused or done by a particular party
- barrage
- a heavy, continuous attack with weapons fired in quantity
- restraint
- the act of holding back from forceful or extreme action
- leverage
- an advantage that gives one side power to influence outcomes
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