Houthi Missile Strikes Kill at Least 13 at Riyadh Airport, Closing Facility for Days

Saudi authorities reported that successive Houthi ballistic missile strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed at least 13 people and wounded more than 300 over several days in early October 2026, forcing the airport to suspend operations.

The deadliest single incident occurred on Saturday, 10 October, when a missile hit a passenger terminal. The Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation said four Saudi citizens and eight foreigners died in that strike, including two Bangladeshis, one American, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian and one Sudanese. More than 309 people were wounded, some critically. An Indian citizen who was injured on Saturday later died, bringing the week's toll higher.

A second projectile struck Terminal 4 on Sunday, 11 October, killing one person and wounding 11 others. Saudi-led coalition forces said they intercepted additional missiles and drones that day, including one over Khamis Mushait and another in the Eastern Province. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed responsibility for the Saturday attack and said the group had also targeted Dammam airport and Saudi Aramco facilities.

The Houthis described Saudi airports as military targets after the Yemeni government, backed by Riyadh, launched an offensive against them. They warned international airlines against using Saudi airspace. Saudi coalition spokesman Major General Turki al-Malki called the Saturday strike a cowardly terrorist attack on a civilian facility.

Airport operations halted after the Saturday attack. A notice to air missions indicated closure until at least 17 October. Flightradar24 recorded more than 300 cancellations. Passengers were diverted, and embassies from the United States, Canada, Germany and Spain advised citizens to avoid the site. Witnesses described panic inside the terminal: one person at gate 403 said he saw injuries and people running as glass shattered.

This series of attacks marked the deadliest on Saudi territory in more than a decade and the third set of strikes on the same airport within a week. Earlier hits on Thursday, 8 October, killed three Saudis, including a Saudia pilot, Captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, and damaged a commercial aircraft. The escalation followed the unravelling of a Yemen ceasefire and coincided with broader regional fighting involving Iran.

US President Donald Trump said Washington would review whether to join Saudi strikes against the Houthis. Saudi authorities activated a mass call-up of medical staff. Foreign workers and pilgrims were among the casualties. The Indian embassy confirmed one of its nationals died from Saturday's wounds. Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif noted that six Pakistanis were injured.

The attacks exposed gaps in Saudi air defence even as the kingdom conducts an air campaign in Yemen. Houthi media claimed the group had shut down the airport. Saudi officials maintained that most missiles were intercepted, but the ones that reached the terminal caused extensive damage to ceilings and equipment. Radar and communications systems required assessment before any reopening.

In the days after the strikes, conferences scheduled in Riyadh proceeded, according to the Saudi ministry, but commercial aviation remained disrupted. The civil aviation authority said some of the wounded remained in critical condition in Riyadh hospitals. No Houthi fighters were reported killed in the airport strikes themselves; the group has continued launching projectiles from Yemeni territory.

The immediate consequence is a prolonged halt to one of the Gulf's busiest airports, serving a city of roughly eight million people and acting as a hub for Saudia and Flynas. Longer-term questions concern whether the strikes will draw direct US involvement or force further Saudi concessions in the Yemen conflict. The Houthis have signalled they will continue targeting Saudi transit hubs while the ground war continues.