An airline pilot was among three Saudi citizens killed in attacks targeting Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport and a Saudia aircraft, the kingdom’s civil aviation authority said on Friday (October 9, 2026).
Several people “of different nationalities” were wounded.
They also marked a significant escalation on the latest front in the Iran war, which has kept oil prices and financial markets volatile. The kingdom has sought support from allies, including the United States. But President Donald Trump has shown reluctance to expand U.S. military involvement in West Asia and, for now, has not ordered American forces to resume strikes against the rebels. The Houthis had disrupted the waterway for months with their own attacks in response to Israel mounting a blockade on the Gaza Strip. Trump halted strikes after the U.S. military burned through hundreds of millions of dollars in munitions. The new Saudi-led offensive aims to retake territory the Houthis seized a month ago along Yemen’s western Red Sea coast and the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Their presence there threatens a crucial alternative shipping route to the Strait of Hormuz, where Iranian attacks on ships have curtailed traffic.
The attacks on Thursday (October 8) were the deadliest in Saudi Arabia since the kingdom and allied forces in neighbouring Yemen launched a major military offensive against Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels last weekend. By Friday (October 8) afternoon, at least 124 flights to and from Riyadh had been cancelled after hundreds more were cancelled a day earlier, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware. On Wednesday (October 7), Saudi officials said Houthi-claimed attacks on airports in Riyadh and Abha had killed three people.
Officials said U.S. assistance has included intelligence sharing, target identification and planning for the latest offensive.
Saudi Arabia faces mounting attacks from the Houthis, who declared a blockade of the kingdom earlier this year in response to one imposed on them. The U.S. last year carried out a nearly two-month air strike campaign against the Houthis in an effort to open international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. UN Special Envoy Hans Grundberg was scheduled to brief the Security Council on developments in Yemen later on Friday.
The guidance, updated Friday, adds that “recurrent missile and drone attacks, together with the activation of air-defence systems, create an increased risk of misidentification of civil aircraft, as well as risks associated with missile and drone overflights, interception activity and falling debris. It appeared to be the first confirmed attack on the Saudi national carrier since the new offensive began. Saudi authorities have not confirmed the strikes on Sanaa.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has expanded its guidance on Saudi airspace, noting the Houthis’ ability to strike targets deeper inside the kingdom, including Riyadh, and a “greater focus on aviation infrastructure. It did not identify those responsible, though the Houthis claimed to have targeted the airport with a ballistic missile. Among the dead was Capt. Residents in Yemen’s capital of Sanaa heard heavy explosions overnight into Friday as intense fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-led forces continued. He didn’t provide further details. Meanwhile, Saudi allies, including Kuwait and Pakistan, condemned the attack on the Riyadh airport. The airport in the Saudi capital has come under repeated attack in recent days.
The Indian Embassy said Air India had suspended operations through to Saturday (October 10), while the Lufthansa Group said its airlines would suspend flights to Riyadh through to October 16. The first attack on Thursday (October 8) targeted airport facilities, while the second struck the aircraft, the Saudi statement said. Because of the evolving situation in the West Asia, an airline spokesman said, pakistan International Airlines has also suspended flights to Riyadh.
Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, the Saudia Group said in a statement. A separate Saudia Group statement said one of its aircraft was damaged while it was on the ground, with no passengers on board. The aviation statement also said the injuries to citizens and people of other nationalities “ranged from minor to serious. The Saudia Group statement later said operational activities at the airport had returned to normal. Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis said it had destroyed three rocket launch platforms used by the rebels to threaten regional security. Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run Health Ministry, said on X that two of the overnight strikes on Sanaa by the Saudi-led coalition injured six people, including a child. Mohamed al-Jabir, the Saudi ambassador to Yemen, in a post on X on Friday (October 8), claimed that the Bab el-Mandeb Strait had been “cleansed” of Houthi remnants. The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry said the kingdom’s security is “an inseparable part of the security” of Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. Pakistan has said it’s making its military capabilities available to Saudi Arabia to fight the Houthis under a new mutual defence pact with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Foreign Ministry spokesman Sajjad Haider Khan told reporters in Islamabad that Saudi Arabia has a “legitimate right to defend its people and protect its critical infrastructure. This week, the Houthis warned global airlines “for the last time” about the potential consequences of operating in Saudi airspace, which they described as a theatre for their military operations.
Protesters gathered in several Houthi-held cities in Yemen on Friday to denounce Saudi Arabia and its backers.
