Yemen's Houthi movement said on Thursday, October 8, 2026, that it had attacked King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh with a ballistic missile, Reuters reported — a fresh claim hours after Saudi Arabia said a midweek strike on the same airport had killed one person. There was no immediate Saudi confirmation of the new claim. Separately, Pakistan's military confirmed on Wednesday that Pakistani forces are stationed in Saudi Arabia under the new Saudi-Turkish-Pakistani mutual defense pact, CNN reported.
What did the Houthis claim?
The Houthis said they had fired a ballistic missile at King Khalid International Airport, the capital's main international gateway, Reuters reported Thursday. The statement followed Saudi Arabia's announcement that the midweek attack on the same airport — which the kingdom's civil aviation authority said killed a Sudanese resident and wounded eight people — had been carried out by the group. Riyadh did not immediately confirm the latest claim.
The claim marks the second time in two days that Riyadh's main airport has been the target of a claimed Houthi ballistic-missile strike. A day earlier, the group also claimed responsibility for a ballistic-missile attack on Abha International Airport near the Yemen border, which Saudi authorities said killed two residents and wounded 28.
Saudi coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said Saudi forces had destroyed the ballistic missile launcher used in the midweek Riyadh attack. In a post on X, reported by CNN, he said the launcher was destroyed in Sanaa while preparations were underway for what he called "another imminent attack against Saudi Arabia."
Was the new strike confirmed?
No. Reuters reported that there was no immediate confirmation from Saudi Arabia of the Houthis' latest claim. The group has claimed a series of cross-border attacks this week, and some of its past claims have gone unacknowledged or been denied by Riyadh.
What is confirmed is the week's toll on Saudi airports: Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said three people were killed and 36 wounded in attacks on the Abha and Riyadh airports on October 6–7 — a figure corroborated by reporting from both CNN and Reuters.
Why does this matter?
The attacks mark a sharp escalation of the Yemen war's spillover onto Saudi territory, with civilian aviation infrastructure now repeatedly targeted. The strikes prompted an updated security alert from the US Mission in Saudi Arabia, warning American citizens that the conflict "has the potential to escalate," and a European aviation safety warning over the risk of misidentification of civilian aircraft amid recurrent missile and drone attacks and active air defenses.
The fighting has intensified as Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces press ahead with Operation "Dawn of Yemen," a counteroffensive aimed at rolling back Houthi gains along the Red Sea coast and near the Bab al-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis have answered with missile and drone attacks deep inside Saudi Arabia.
What did Pakistan confirm?
In an exclusive interview with CNN on Wednesday, Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry, the chief of the Pakistani military's media wing, confirmed that Pakistani forces are stationed in the Gulf kingdom. "The forces of Pakistan are already there. That I can share with you," he said, declining to specify numbers or capabilities, saying those details were classified.
The confirmation came days after Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan agreed to move immediately to implement collective defense commitments under their newly minted mutual defense treaty — the Mecca Alliance — including the rapid deployment of military forces in Saudi Arabia. Chaudhry described the pact as a mechanism for collective defense under which an attack on one member would be considered an attack on all, and said it would act as a deterrent.
He would not say whether Pakistani troops could be involved in operations across the border in Yemen, saying any involvement would be "defensive in nature." He added that Pakistan was still pushing for a negotiated end to the US-Iran war, which regionalized this year and has drawn Saudi Arabia back into open conflict with the Houthis.
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This is a developing story. Casualty figures are those reported by Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation; the Houthis' latest claim of a new Riyadh airport strike had no Saudi confirmation at publication time.
