Houthi strikes on Saudi airports kill three as coalition hits 82 Yemen targets
Cross-border missile and drone strikes hit airports in Riyadh and Abha, prompting international flight cancellations and military mobilization under a regional defense pact.
Airport strikes claim three lives in Saudi Arabia
Three people died and dozens were injured after Yemen's Houthi movement launched missile and drone strikes against Saudi Arabian airports on 6 October and 7 October. Official statements confirmed that a Sudanese national was killed at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, while two women of Moroccan and Algerian nationality died in a strike on Abha International Airport in the south-west. Civil aviation authorities reported between 35 and 38 total injuries across both facilities, with Riyadh registering seven or eight wounded and Abha counting 28 or 30. Early on 8 October, rebel military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Houthi units fired another ballistic missile at the Riyadh airport. Multiple explosions rattled the capital on Thursday morning, prompting the evacuation of at least one commercial office tower while Saudi officials reminded residents that sharing attack imagery carries legal penalties.
Flight suspensions and Mecca pact activation
Houthi forces reiterated warnings to international carriers that Saudi airspace remains dangerous, prompting European airlines including Air France and Lufthansa to cancel flights into the kingdom through late October. Saudi national carrier Saudia continued operating, though tracking platform Flightradar24 recorded flight diversions and holding patterns around Riyadh during missile interceptions. To reinforce air defenses after repeated requests for Western support went unanswered, Saudi Arabia operationalized the Mecca joint defense agreement established in August. Defense and foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan met in Riyadh on 5 October to prepare military contingents for kingdom deployment. Verisk Maplecroft analyst Hamish Kinnear told AFP that the decision suggests a defensive deployment intended to counter inbound rebel projectiles.
- Yemeni government forces launch an offensive to reclaim territory along the Red Sea
- Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan meet in Riyadh to operationalize the Mecca defense pact
- A strike on Abha International Airport kills two women and wounds dozens
- Missile strikes hit King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and Aden airport
- Houthis announce a new missile attack on Riyadh as the coalition hits 82 targets
Coalition retaliates with strikes on 82 targets
The Saudi-led military coalition responded by launching airstrikes against 82 rebel positions across Yemen, focusing on command centers and the launch platform utilized in the Riyadh airport strike. Coalition operations struck 11 mountain-based ballistic missile storage depots in the northern Houthi stronghold of Saada. Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki announced the retaliation after condemning the strikes on transportation hubs.
The brutal attacks by the terrorist Houthi Militia on civilian objects in the kingdom will not go unpunished.
Ground battles and humanitarian toll
The airport strikes followed a ground counter-offensive launched on 4 October by Yemeni government forces seeking to reclaim Red Sea coastal areas lost when Houthis advanced near the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Yemen's armed forces reported 2,103 precision targeting operations across several provinces, while rebel units fired ballistic missiles and drones at Aden International Airport early on 7 October. The exchanges mark the first fatalities inside Saudi Arabia since the 2022 ceasefire collapsed in July, when rebels imposed a blockade on Red Sea shipping and struck Aramco oil facilities. According to the International Organization for Migration, renewed warfare has displaced more than 200,000 civilians inside Yemen as of 7 October.
