Yemen's Houthis announced a fresh strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh just hours after Saudi authorities declared operations had resumed following a deadly attack on 10 October that killed 13 people. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on X that the group had "conducted three military operations with dozens of ballistic missiles," claiming the latest strike on the airport "achieved its target." Saree vowed the facility would "never be safe" and urged airlines, airport staff and travellers not to use it.
The Saudi-led coalition reported intercepting two drones and a ballistic missile towards Riyadh, and a cruise missile towards the southern city of Khamis Mushait. It later said it intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired towards southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi civil defence confirmed shrapnel from interceptions over Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah had injured two people and damaged residential buildings and vehicles.
The government had designated Terminal 1 for domestic flights and Terminal 2 for international flights operated by national carriers, though flight tracking data from Flightradar24 showed little traffic at the airport in the evening. It was not immediately clear if the coalition's reported intercepts matched the Houthi claims. Saudi authorities did not directly comment on the statements.
The renewed attacks come after Houthi forces seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month, threatening the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a vital global shipping route. The fighting has shattered a UN-brokered truce that had largely held since 2022. Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen's civil war in 2015 at the head of a coalition supporting the internationally recognised government. The conflict has become an increasingly destabilising element in the wider US-Israeli offensive against Iran.