Saudi Civil Defence says missile debris injured two in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah

Spread the Word

KHAMIS MUSHAIT, Saudi Arabia — Debris from two intercepted Houthi ballistic missiles injured two people and damaged homes and vehicles in southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the kingdom’s civil defence agency said.

One of the injured is a Saudi citizen. The other is an Asian expatriate resident, Saudi Civil Defence said.

The debris fell on Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah, two towns in Asir province in the kingdom’s southwest.

Three residential buildings and seven vehicles were damaged, the agency said in a post on X.

The statement came from the General Directorate of Civil Defense. The Saudi Press Agency quoted the directorate’s official spokesperson, who was not named.

The agency released photographs of the damage.

Civil defence teams responded to the sites and followed standard procedures, the directorate said.

Saudi Civil Defence is the only source for those figures. Yemen Herald found no independent confirmation of the casualties or the damage.

The agency issued warnings through its National Early Warning Platform for the city of Abha and the governorate of Khamis Mushait.

It was the second warning for Khamis Mushait that morning.

Attack warnings were issued across southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday. They covered Abha, Taif, Namas and Jazan.

Asir province borders Yemen.

Civil Defence said later that the danger had passed. It urged residents to follow safety instructions and to avoid gathering at or filming the sites where debris had fallen.

The interceptions came during a wider exchange of fire.

Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, said forces destroyed a ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh early on Sunday.

He said a drone was brought down over the Riyadh region and that a cruise missile launched toward Khamis Mushait was intercepted.

The coalition later said it had intercepted 10 ballistic missiles fired toward the kingdom’s southern region.

Explosions were heard in Riyadh before dawn.

Residents received alerts on their mobile phones shortly beforehand. The messages warned of an air threat and told people to take shelter.

Debris also fell in western Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Civil Defence said it responded to sites at Wadi al-Mughammas, about 20 kilometres from the Grand Mosque in Makkah, at al-Nuzha in Jeddah, at Wadi Jalil in Taif and at Masturah in Rabigh governorate. It reported no casualties from those interceptions.

The Houthis denied targeting Makkah and Madinah. They called the Saudi account a “huge lie”.

The group said on Saturday that it had struck three Saudi airports, including one in Riyadh, along with energy installations, a pipeline and an airbase.

Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, warned airlines, their staff and travellers against using King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. He called it “unsafe” and described it as a “military target”.

Operations at the airport were halted on 10 October after a Houthi attack that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300.

The airport said international flights would resume from Terminal 2 on Sunday, with Terminal 1 handling domestic services.

Riyadh’s international airport partially reopened on Sunday after a closure of about two weeks. The extent of its operations was not immediately clear.

Fighting inside Yemen continued over the same weekend.

Houthi forces advanced on Jabal Sabr, the mountain overlooking Taiz city. They have besieged the government-held centre and closed the main road to Aden.

The UN says time is running out to deliver aid to 800,000 people cut off there.

Yemen’s government said its forces carried out more than 700 operations against Houthi targets on Saturday and killed more than 300 fighters. Those figures come from the government and have not been independently confirmed.

Houthi-run media said Saudi-led aircraft struck Sanaa and the port of Mocha on Saturday. The coalition did not comment on those reports.

Saudi Arabia has led a military coalition in Yemen since 2015.

The Houthis have held Sanaa since 2014. The internationally recognised government is seated in Aden.

The coalition’s statements did not say which air defence systems carried out Sunday’s interceptions.

The Houthi military spokesman, Yahya Sarea, said the group had fired on King Khalid Air Base at Khamis Mushait on Sunday, along with Riyadh’s main airport and a naval base at Jazan.

Sarea warned airlines and travellers against using Saudi airspace, excluding Mecca and Medina. The Houthis have issued similar warnings since the start of the month.

King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh partially reopened on Sunday after a suspension. The civil aviation authority had extended an earlier closure to 17 October.

The United States ordered non-essential embassy staff and their families to leave Riyadh last week and warned that hostilities could escalate quickly.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned attacks on civilian infrastructure in the conflict. Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, called the escalation grave.

Saudi Arabia has not published a full tally of debris casualties for the month. Civil Defence reports them case by case through its warning platform.

The Houthis seized Sanaa in 2014. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in March 2015 on the side of the internationally recognised government.

A truce brokered by the United Nations in 2022 collapsed in July, the same month the Houthis declared a blockade on Saudi shipping through the Bab al-Mandab strait.

Ahad Rafidah lies about 20 kilometres east of Khamis Mushait. Both sit inland from the Red Sea coast.