Saudi-led coalition says it downed Houthi missiles over Riyadh and Khamis Mushait

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — The Saudi-led coalition said it shot down two Houthi ballistic missiles early Friday, one aimed at Riyadh and the other at Khamis Mushait.

Coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said the missile headed for the capital was destroyed shortly after 4 a.m. He announced the interceptions on X.

Al-Maliki said two armed drones directed at the kingdom’s southern region were intercepted and destroyed about three hours earlier, at around 1 a.m.

No casualties or damage were reported from the three interceptions.

Saudi Civil Defence had activated an emergency warning in Riyadh in the early hours, after residents heard explosions across the capital. People were told to shelter in place.

An all-clear followed about an hour later.

Civil Defence issued separate alerts for Abha and Khamis Mushait, which were lifted a short time afterwards. Alerts also sounded in Najran.

Al-Masirah, the Houthi-run broadcaster, reported loud explosions in the Saudi capital. The group made no formal claim of responsibility for Friday’s launches.

The coalition attributed them to Houthi forces. Yemen Herald could not independently confirm the origin of the launches.

Friday’s was the fourth Civil Defence alert in Riyadh this month.

Coalition and Saudi Press Agency figures put October’s toll from Houthi attacks on the kingdom at 24 people killed and at least 374 injured. Eighteen of those deaths were at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh.

Coalition figures record at least 14 ballistic missiles and more than 60 armed drones fired at Saudi Arabia since the start of October.

Two people were killed in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam on 22 October, the Saudi aviation authority said.

A Houthi drone targeted a processing plant at Saudi Aramco’s Shaybah oilfield in the Empty Quarter on 21 October. The Saudi Energy Ministry said air defences intercepted the drone and that falling debris set alight a contractor’s vehicle outside the plant, killing two people and injuring two. The ministry said operations at the field, which produces about one million barrels of crude a day, were unaffected.

The airport attacks began on 6 October. A combined missile and drone assault on King Khalid International killed a Sudanese national and injured eight civilians, the BBC reported. Two women, from Algeria and Morocco, were killed at Abha International Airport and 28 people were wounded.

Two further attacks struck the Riyadh airport on 8 October. The second destroyed a Saudia Airbus A320. The General Authority of Civil Aviation said three Saudi citizens were killed, among them the aircraft’s pilot, and dozens were wounded. Hundreds of flights were cancelled.

The Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile that day.

A missile struck a complex housing terminals 3 and 4 on 10 October. Saudi authorities initially reported 12 dead, including four Saudis, two Bangladeshis and one national each from the United States, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt. Another 308 people were injured. An Indian man wounded that day later died, taking the toll to 13.

Terminal 4 was hit again on 11 October, starting a fire in a passenger hall. A Pakistani resident was killed and 11 people were injured. King Fahd International Airport in Dammam was attacked the same day, with no casualties reported.

Three ballistic missiles were fired on 12 October, one of them toward the Riyadh airport. All three were intercepted. The civil aviation authority extended the airport’s closure to 17 October.

Saudi investigators examined how the 10 October missile reached its target.

Al-Maliki described that strike as a “full-fledged war crime”.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on 11 October that he was “deeply shocked” by what he called a “lethal attack by the Houthis”, and that attacks on civilian infrastructure “must cease immediately”.

Hans Grundberg, the UN special envoy for Yemen, called the airport attacks “a grave escalation” the same day, saying they threatened regional security and complicated peace efforts.

Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a Houthi official, claimed responsibility for the airport attacks. He said they were retaliation for Saudi strikes on Yemeni civilian infrastructure.

Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, warned airlines against using Saudi airports and airspace, exempting those at Makkah and Madinah.

Two fixtures on Saudi Arabia’s diplomatic and business calendar have been put back.

The second EU-GCC summit, due in Riyadh on 24 October, was postponed on 15 October. Jasem Al Budaiwi, the GCC secretary-general, announced the decision and the EU Council confirmed it the same day. No new date has been set.

The Future Investment Initiative, scheduled for 26 to 29 October, was moved to 2027. Gulf News reported the postponement on 19 October and Al Jazeera confirmed it the following day. No official reason was given.

Air India, Akasa Air, Lufthansa and Pakistan International Airlines suspended flights to Riyadh.

Canada, Japan, Poland, South Korea, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States issued travel cautions for Saudi Arabia.

The committee of the Makkah joint defence agreement agreed to deploy Pakistani and Turkish forces.

In Yemen, government forces backed by the Coalition to Support Legitimacy report more than 17,000 air and ground strikes since the start of their Dawn of Yemen operation. Rashad al-Alimi, chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, said on 16 October the campaign would continue until state authority was restored across the country, reaching Sanaa.

Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, offered to help open dialogue between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis.