Two attacks on airports in Saudi Arabia claimed by Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighbouring Yemen killed three people Wednesday (October 7, 2026), Saudi officials said, as the kingdom was pulled deeper into the latest front in the Iran war.
ALSO WATCH Saudi backed Yemeni forces expel Houthis from several areas around key strait The attack on Abha airport killed Moroccan and Algerian residents and wounded 28 other people, while the attack on King Khalid airport killed a Sudanese national and wounded eight other people, officials said. On Monday, officials said forces of the Saudi-led coalition recaptured several key areas around the strait, through which about 12% of global trade transits. Saudi Arabia and allied Yemeni forces launched a major ground and air offensive aimed at retaking territory that the rebels seized a month ago along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
The kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter, has seen oil and military assets targeted in recent days, posing a threat to crucial shipping alternative to the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has been curtailed due to the Iran war. As Riyadh has been targeted over the past week, new cage-like fences have been erected around fuel tanks and other equipment of the Saudi state-run Aramco oil company near the capital’s airport. The spokesperson for the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis, Maj. Gen. The AP could not independently verify these claims. Those positions gave the Houthis better surveillance as they pursue a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping.
Turki al-Malki, said forces intercepted a ballistic missile north of Riyadh and destroyed a platform in Yemen’s capital of Sana that had been used to launch attacks on the Saudi capital.
The Saudi General Authority for Civil Aviation did not blame any party for the attacks at Abha and Riyadh’s King Khalid international airports, but Houthi rebels took credit earlier for the airport strikes .
