Drones and missiles were stopped over Riyadh and southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday, the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen said, while clashes with the Iran-aligned Houthis carried on. The fighting has become a growing source of instability in the wider US-Israeli offensive against Iran, placing Saudi Arabia, a US ally, at the centre of the broader conflict.
Emergency alerts and the intercepted launches
Civil defence authorities issued emergency alerts for Riyadh, Abha and Khamis Mushait, then announced minutes later that the threat had passed. The coalition said two drones and a ballistic missile were headed toward Riyadh, while a cruise missile was aimed at Khamis Mushait in the south. It later said ten ballistic missiles fired toward southern Saudi Arabia had been intercepted.
Riyadh airport reopens under Houthi threat
The Houthis warned they could again target King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh. The airport resumed operations at two terminals on Sunday, following a deadly attack earlier this month. The Houthis said they had attacked the airport and Saudi oil facilities on Saturday, but Saudi authorities did not directly comment on those statements.
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Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the airport remained a “military target” and urged airlines, airport staff and travellers not to use it. Late on Saturday, the airport said Terminal 1 would handle domestic flights and Terminal 2 international flights run by national carriers from Sunday. Operations had been halted on October 10 after an attack, claimed by the Houthis, that killed 13 people and wounded more than 300 others. It was the deadliest attack in the kingdom in more than a decade.
Red Sea seizure and collapse of the truce
Saudi Arabia has stepped up its strikes on the Houthis after the group seized strategic territory along the Red Sea coast last month, moving close to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strait is a global maritime chokepoint and a shipping route for Gulf oil producers, located on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz.
The renewed fighting has shattered a UN-brokered truce that had largely held since 2022. Saudi Arabia first entered Yemen’s civil war in 2015, leading a coalition backing the internationally recognised government, a year after the Houthis seized the capital Sanaa.
