Three killed in attacks on Saudi airports as Houthis claim responsibility

Saudi Arabia’s General Authority of Civil Aviation said attacks on Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on 6 and 7 October killed three people and injured 36. The Houthis claimed responsibility, according to BBC News, but the aviation authority did not publicly identify who carried out the attacks. The deaths at two civilian airports bring the renewed fighting in Yemen directly into Saudi aviation facilities.

Two women, one Moroccan and one Algerian, were killed at Abha, near the Yemen border. A Sudanese man was killed at King Khalid airport in the Saudi capital. The reported injury count is 28 at Abha and eight in Riyadh, according to the BBC and Saudi Gazette accounts of the aviation authority’s statement.

What Saudi aviation authorities reported at each airport

The authority said emergency teams and other agencies responded to the attacks and that injured people were taken to hospital. Injuries ranged from minor to serious, according to reports carrying its statement. It also reported material damage and said agencies were assessing the facilities and taking measures to protect travelers, operators and aviation operations. The available accounts do not establish the extent of the damage or whether airport services were disrupted.

At King Khalid airport, the eight injured people included five Saudi citizens, two Egyptian residents and one Pakistani resident, according to the Qatar News Agency’s account of the authority’s statement. Reports identify the person killed there as a Sudanese resident. At Abha, the two people killed were residents of Moroccan and Algerian nationality.

The attacks took place across 6 and 7 October. The BBC’s account of the aviation authority’s statement does not assign a specific day to each airport. Saudi Gazette says Abha was attacked on Tuesday and King Khalid on Wednesday. The exact sequence and timing remain unclear from the available accounts.

Houthi claim and responses to the attacks

Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group attacked both Saudi airports using ballistic missiles and drones, the BBC reported. He described the strikes as a response to Saudi attacks in Yemen. Those details are the group’s claims; the available reporting does not independently establish the weapons used or verify its account of the motive. The Saudi aviation authority did not name a perpetrator in its public account.

The Saudi-led coalition’s spokesperson said the airport attacks would not go unpunished and claimed its forces had struck more than 80 Houthi military sites in Saada, Al Hudaydah, Al Jawf and Ma’rib, according to the BBC. The reported number and targets are the coalition’s account, rather than independently verified outcomes in the available material.

Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi condemned the attacks on Abha and King Khalid airports. In a statement published on 7 October, he described the targeting of civilian airports as a dangerous escalation, expressed solidarity with Saudi Arabia and offered condolences to the families of those killed. UN Secretary-General António Guterres also condemned what he called continued Houthi cross-border attacks and said he was deeply concerned by the sharp escalation in fighting, the BBC reported.

How the airport attacks fit into Yemen’s renewed fighting

The airport attacks come amid renewed fighting in Yemen. The Houthis control much of the country’s northwest and recently seized stretches of the Red Sea coast, including the port of Mokha, according to the BBC. Saudi-backed pro-government forces subsequently said they had secured the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Those territorial claims remain contested, so they do not establish who controls each coastal area now.

The Saudi-led coalition formed in 2015 to support Yemen’s internationally recognized government against the Houthis, the BBC reported. A temporary ceasefire was brokered in 2022 after years of air strikes and ground fighting. The latest fighting has again affected civilians beyond the immediate attack sites: the BBC reported that the UN said more than 200,000 people had been displaced by the escalation as of 7 October. That displacement figure concerns the broader conflict, not the two airport attacks.

Saudi authorities have reported a combined death toll and injury count and said they are assessing damage at the airports. Their public account, as carried in the available reports, does not establish who conducted the attacks, the precise operational effects or the full extent of the damage. Those questions remain open as the authorities continue their assessment.