The Saudi Cabinet said on Tuesday, 13 October 2026, that the Houthi group would face consequences for attacks targeting civilian airports in the Kingdom, following a series of assaults that killed and injured people and damaged civil aviation facilities in recent days.
Cabinet warns Houthis of consequences
The Cabinet said that “the terrorist Houthi militia will face the consequences of its crimes and sinful attacks”, as official efforts continued to address the repercussions of attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Abha International Airport and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam. The General Authority of Civil Aviation had announced that Abha and King Khalid international airports were attacked on 6 and 7 October 2026.
The attack on Abha Airport killed two female residents of Moroccan and Algerian nationality and injured 28 people, while the attack on King Khalid Airport killed a Sudanese resident and injured eight people. The authority said those injured in the two attacks included citizens and residents of Bangladeshi, Filipino, Egyptian and Pakistani nationality, with injuries ranging from minor to serious.
Further damage reported at King Khalid Airport
Material damage was also recorded at the two airports, while emergency teams and the relevant authorities began implementing approved procedures and plans. On 8 October, King Khalid International Airport came under two further attacks: one targeted airport facilities, while the other struck an aircraft operated by Saudia.
The Civil Aviation Authority said the two attacks killed three Saudi citizens and injured a number of citizens and residents of various nationalities, in addition to causing material damage. King Khalid Airport was targeted again on 10 October in an attack that killed 12 people and injured 309 other civilians, some of them critically.
The victims included four Saudi citizens and residents of Bangladeshi, American, Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, Palestinian and Sudanese nationality, while the injured received care at a number of hospitals. The following day, the Coalition to Support Legitimacy in Yemen announced that it had intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile near King Khalid International Airport.
It also reported that an unidentified projectile fell on Passenger Terminal 4, causing a fire, as the relevant authorities continued to deal with the effects of the attacks and secure airport facilities.
The attacks extended to King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on 11 October, when the Civil Aviation Authority announced that the airport had come under attack, with damage assessments and safety checks at the facilities beginning in coordination with the relevant authorities. This was part of a series of successive attacks targeting civil aviation facilities in several Saudi cities.
