Yemen's Houthi group announced on Thursday, 8 October 2026, that it had attacked King Khalid International Airport in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, with a ballistic missile, in the latest attack it has claimed against facilities inside the kingdom. Saudi authorities gave no immediate confirmation of the attack.
Houthis comment on targeting Riyadh airport
The group's military spokesperson, Yahya Saree, said its forces had targeted the airport with a ballistic missile, claiming that the missile hit its target and disrupted air traffic. There was no independent confirmation that the airport had been hit or of the reported attack's impact on its operations. Saree added that the group considered Saudi airspace an arena for its military operations, excluding the airspace over the holy areas of Mecca and Medina.
He also warned global airlines against continuing to operate flights through Saudi airspace. The announcement came hours after Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation disclosed the toll from attacks that targeted King Khalid International Airport and Abha International Airport on Tuesday and Wednesday, killing three people and injuring 36 others.
According to the authority, one person was killed and eight others injured in the attack on King Khalid International Airport, while the attack on Abha Airport killed two people and injured 28. The injured were taken to hospitals for medical care. In previous days, the Houthis had announced a series of ballistic missile and drone attacks on Saudi airports and military and civilian facilities.
Announced targets and coalition interceptions of missiles
The targets the group said it had attacked included King Khalid International Airport, Abha Airport and King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait, as well as sites in Jazan and Asir. In response, the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen announced that it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile north of Riyadh and another missile launched towards Khamis Mushait.
The coalition forces' spokesperson, Major General Turki al-Malki, said the forces had tracked and destroyed in Sanaa the launch platform used in the Riyadh attack while it was preparing to launch a new attack towards the kingdom. Al-Malki added that coalition forces had carried out an attack involving the destruction of 82 Houthi military targets in the provinces of Saada, Hodeidah, Al-Jawf and Marib.
He said the targets included 11 ballistic missile storage facilities in mountainous areas of Saada, as well as command-and-control centres, communications systems, and missile and weapons storage facilities.
The attacks come as fighting intensifies in Yemen, after Yemeni government forces and the Saudi-led coalition announced on 4 October the launch of a military operation to retake areas controlled by the Houthis on the western coast and near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. The group responded by announcing successive attacks on airports and facilities inside Saudi Arabia.
