Published 08/10/2026 – 10:29 GMT+2•Updated 13:40 Yemen’s Houthis said on Thursday they attacked King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital Riyadh with a ballistic missile, as the group steps up its attacks on airports across the neighboring kingdom. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT There was no immediate confirmation of the attack or any damage or casualties from Saudi Arabia at this time. According to witnesses, several explosions echoed throughout Riyadh on Thursday. Diplomats were instructed to take shelter in their respective embassies, as witnesses said international schools were also taking precautions. An earlier drone strike at the same airport killed one person, and two others were killed in a separate attack at the airport in the southwestern city of Abha, Riyadh said on Thursday, as flight delays continued into the second day. The attack on Abha airport killed Moroccan and Algerian residents and injured 28 other people, while the attack on King Khalid airport killed one Sudanese national and injured eight other people, authorities said. The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation did not blame either party for the attacks on the two international airports. In a later statement, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis blamed them for the attacks and promised a response. “The Houthi terrorist militia’s brutal attacks on civilians and civilian objects in the kingdom, the most recent targeting (the two airports) will not go unpunished,” he wrote in The group formally known as Ansar Allah has claimed repeated attacks on Saudi airports in recent days, along with salvos targeting critical infrastructure and military sites across the kingdom. The attacks on Saudi facilities pose a threat to crucial shipping alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has been restricted due to the war with Iran. Saudi Arabia also accused the Houthis of attacking Islam’s holiest sites in Mecca and Medina, accusations the group rejected as “fabrications and lies propagated by the criminal al-Saud regime.” The Houthis are Zaydi Shia Muslims, a specific branch of Islam historically rooted in northern Yemen and theologically distinct from both the dominant Shia Twelfth Islam in Iran and the Wahhabi-influenced Sunni tradition of Saudi Arabia. Any confirmed attack on Mecca or Medina would put the perpetrators out of sight in the eyes of virtually the entire Muslim world, both Shia and Sunni. Houthi attacks have intensified further as Saudi Arabia and Yemeni government forces launched a major ground and air offensive aimed at retaking territory the group seized a month ago along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. On Monday, officials said Saudi-led coalition forces recaptured several key areas around the strait, through which about 12% of global trade transits. “The Houthis believe they can maximize Saudi economic costs and force Saudi Arabia to surrender to Houthi demands by attacking civilian infrastructure, such as oil facilities and airports,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War wrote in an analysis. The fighting in Yemen has in recent weeks become the most active front in a broader regional war, which for months has seen violence repeatedly shift focus across the besieged Middle East. According to UN data, more than 200,000 people have been displaced since Yemen’s war escalated again in July. Additional sources • AFP, AP
