Twelve Killed, 300 Wounded in Houthi Drone Strike on Saudi Airport
“Deadliest such attack in the kingdom in more than a decade.”
Iran-backed Houthi terrorists struck Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh international airport on Saturday, killing at least 12 people and injuring more than 300.
A U.S. citizen was among those killed in the Houthi drone strike. “At least 12 people have been killed, and 309 injured in an attack on the international airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, local authorities say,” BBC reported. “The deaths included four Saudis, two people from Bangladesh and one person each from the US, Jordan, Palestine, Syria, Sudan and Egypt, the Saudi civil aviation authority confirmed.”
Saudi authorities confirm King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was attacked this afternoon, resulting in a number of injuries. Operational activities at the airport have been temporarily suspended pending a full damage assessment, the Saudi Civil Aviation Authority said. https://t.co/M7ywd87Bmj pic.twitter.com/hlhzTGcmhG
— Ariel Oseran أريئل أوسيران (@ariel_oseran) October 10, 2026
Update: The Houthis struck the Riyadh airport for the fourth time in a row on Sunday afternoon. The airport was “hit again on Sunday,” The Guardian reported. “Authorities said an “unidentified projectile” struck Terminal 4 at King Khalid International Airport. Air defenses also “intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile” in the vicinity of the airport.”
Saturday’s strike on the Riyadh airport marks the deadliest attack since the Houthis seized power in neighboring Yemen over a decade ago. Reuters called it the “deadliest such attack in the kingdom in more than a decade.”
Following the attack, President Donald Trump hinted that the U.S. may consider hitting Houthi terror targets in Yemen. The U.S. military hasn’t taken on Houthis since May 2025, when it destroyed over 1000 terror targets as part of Operation Rough Rider.
Trump, asked if the U.S. will join the Saudi strikes on the Houthis:
"We may." pic.twitter.com/U4g4gJ4KIC
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) October 10, 2026
The attack comes as the conflict enters a new phase. After months of striking Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure, the Yemen-based Islamist group has shifted its targets to the Arab Gulf kingdom’s airports in recent days. The Iranian proxy terrorist group struck the Riyadh international airport for the third time since Thursday.
The Associated Press reported the latest Houthi strike:
The latest attack on the international airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital of Riyadh killed 12 people and injured over 300 others, civil aviation authorities said early Sunday, with some in critical condition. A Saudi-led coalition blamed Iran-backed Houthi rebels in neighboring Yemen.
It was the deadliest attack in any Gulf Arab country since the start of the Iran war, whose fronts have expanded to include the recent surge in fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces.
A missile struck a King Khalid International Airport complex housing terminals 3 and 4 for domestic flights, a regional official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak to the media.
The Saudi statement said the dead included four Saudi citizens as well as two Bangladeshi nationals, a Palestinian, a U.S. citizen, an Egyptian, a Jordanian, a Syrian and a Sudanese. It said the injured were being treated at several hospitals.
Footage posted on social media following the attack and analyzed by The Associated Press shows emergency vehicles outside the airport.
Saudi civil aviation authorities on Saturday said airport operations were suspended. The closure was later extended by 24 hours until 9 p.m. Sunday, according to the flight tracking platform Flightradar 24.
🚨Footage of Yemen's attack on Riyadh King Khalid international Airport, Saudi Arabia. pic.twitter.com/mZa80nTdcz
— WAR (@warsurv) October 11, 2026
The Houthi missile and drone assault is far from over. The terror group has threatened to intensify its attacks, vowing to step up its strikes on Saudi airports. “Yemen’s Houthis warned airlines, travellers and airport workers on Sunday to stay away from Saudi airports, a day after an attack on Riyadh’s international airport,” Reuters added.
The attack comes amid reports that Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces are advancing on Houthi-held territories in Yemen. “Yemeni military sources said on Saturday their forces were advancing against the Houthis in areas around the Bab al-Mandab strait but have not yet secured control of the waterway, after the government launched an operation to capture lost territory,” the France24 TV channel reported. “The Saudi-backed government last week announced a counter-offensive aimed at retaking all areas held by the Houthis, after the pro-Iran group seized Yemen’s entire western coastline in a lightning offensive.”
Last month, Saudi Arabia was forced to close a major pipeline after drone attacks from Iranian proxy terror groups. The 745-mile-long pipeline was crucial for the kingdom to redirect its oil output away from the Strait of Hormuz. With Iran losing control over the Hormuz waterway, the Houthis are stepping up their efforts to close the Red Sea’s Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the second most important shipping route in the region.
Weeks after the October 7 massacre, the Houthis joined Iran’s multi-front war on Israel, striking at Israeli towns and cities with drones and missiles, and threatening international trade by attacking regional shipping.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the horrific terrorist attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which claimed the lives of 12 innocent people and injured hundreds more.
On behalf of the people of Israel, I…
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 11, 2026
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Comments
So will Saudi Arabia get on board with taking down Iran with a full commitment. Them + UAE would get it done IMO.
As John McClain would say – welcome to the party pal
I almost read that as John Mc Cain.
I welcome your comment much more.
Didn’t Nostradamus predict that the end of the world would start with a war in the Middle East?
I think Nostradamus got that from the Bible.
I think Nostradamus knew a lead-pipe cinch when he saw one.
Houthi drone strike? It may nominally be claimed by the Houthis but those goatherds wouldn’t know what to do with a drone if Amazon delivered one to their tent camp. It was Iran.
But the media will keep it a “Yemen Man” did it.
We have the assets sitting there. The Houthi’s are an extension of Iranian terror net work against the world. Send some ordinance their way to eliminate them. Sooner or later they will need to be dealt with.
I am tired of the arogant commenters who deride the abilities of Middle
Easterners. Those foks who are derided as idiots, have stolen 1/2 of Minnesota, colonized parts of Michigan, parade with impunity in NYC, and, absent US actions, would have shut down Europe. Who are the fools in those situations? Perhaps you would be better off if you kept your mouth shut!
I’ve seen Saudis junk broken equipment and buy new, just because they couldn’t be bothered to perform repairs – or didn’t know how. First-hand observation: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct 87-Jan 88.
There are differences between being a fool, being crafty/cunning, being illiterate, and being technologically savvy. They are not all mutually exclusive.
They didn’t steal any of that. It was handed to them.by a traitor.
Even a possum will loot your home good if you leave your damn door open.
There’s an ancient Greek fable about Mercury taking a wagon loaded with greed, betrayal, lust, etc across Arabia. His wagon threw a wheel, and he had to go to the nearest village to get it repaired. Upon his return the Arabs had stolen everything on the wagon.
Sounds like we have to issue a sequel to that original children’s classic: “Everybody I Don’t Like Is Bibi.”
Over 7 months in and the war is going great! Rampant inflation, 21 dead Americans, billions and billions more spent driving us deeper and deeper in debt and no end in sight! Have the Iranians started marching in the street yet in support of their American saviors?
Trump broke his most solemn pledge to his supporters and it will cost him what little shot he had at a legacy and all of us the midterms. Add in the disgusting money grab by him and his moronic children and just flush the whole Trump 2 experience down the drain. What could have been…
Now tell us about how the Democrats are going to fix that and prevent us from getting a nuke from Iran.
They aren’t the point is he never should have done it in the first place. And “Iran is going to get a nuclear weapon” is one of the great canards of the 21st century.