A Saudi-led coalition said on Friday that it had intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis toward Riyadh. Civil defence authorities issued early warning alerts in the Saudi capital and in the southern Najran region at the same time.
Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence issued the Riyadh alert at about 5:14am. Authorities said minutes later that the danger in the capital had passed. A separate alert was issued in Najran shortly after 6:20am, and Civil Defence later said the threat there had also ended. The coalition’s statement described the projectile only as a ballistic missile launched by the Houthis towards Riyadh, and no further operational details were immediately released.
Houthi missile alerts across Riyadh and Najran
The incident comes amid continuing security tensions between Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, who have fired missiles and drones at the kingdom during earlier periods of escalation. Friday’s alerts were lifted within a relatively short time, with Civil Defence confirming that the immediate danger had passed in both areas.
Also read: Saudi Arabia says it intercepted Houthi missile aimed at Riyadh
Riyadh statistics forums postponed until 2027
Separately, the General Authority for Statistics announced on Friday that two major international events planned for Riyadh next month had been postponed. According to a statement from the authority, the UN Global Data Forum and the Second Saudi Statistical Forum, scheduled for November 9 to 12, 2026, will now take place in 2027.
The authority did not give a reason for the delay, and there was no official indication linking the decision to Friday’s missile interception or the security alerts. The UN forum brings together governments, international organisations, civil society, academia and the private sector to discuss how data is collected, used and governed for development and policymaking. The Second Saudi Statistical Forum had been planned alongside the UN event in the Saudi capital.
