Summary:
An attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh killed 12 people and injured 309 on Saturday 10 October 2026, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said early on 11 October. The strike hit the airport's domestic terminal complex at about 15:00 local time. Four of the dead were Saudis, and the other eight were one American, two Bangladeshis and one person each from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan. Operations at the airport were suspended, and the Saudi-led Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen blamed the Houthis, the Iran-aligned movement that controls Sanaa, Yemen's capital.
The attack followed a week of Houthi threats against civil aviation. Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, warned airlines on 8 October that Saudi airspace had become a theatre of military operations. The Coalition called Saturday's strike a "terrorist act" and a "full-fledged war crime" and said it would respond firmly. A post on X from the Houthi media office said the group had "shut down Riyadh international airport", though the Houthis' military spokesman has not claimed the strike.
In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack and confirmed that an American citizen was among the dead. President Donald Trump said the United States may join Saudi strikes on the Houthis and would decide quickly. The strike is the latest in fighting that has run since mid-July, through a Houthi coastal offensive in September and a Saudi-backed counter-offensive launched in early October.
Detailed Report
1. Strike on Riyadh's Domestic Terminal Kills 12 and Injures 309
Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) first confirmed that an attack on King Khalid International Airport had wounded people and temporarily suspended operations while damage and casualties were assessed. Its follow-up statement, carried early on 11 October by the Saudi Press Agency, set out the toll:
… the attack resulted in 12 fatalities, including four Saudi citizens and residents of the following nationalities: two Bangladeshi, one American, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Syrian, one Palestinian, and one Sudanese. The attack also left 309 others injured, including individuals in critical condition.
All injured individuals are receiving the necessary medical care at several hospitals. … The attack also caused property damage, the extent of which is currently being assessed.
Two regional officials told the Associated Press that a missile struck the complex housing Terminals 3 and 4 on the domestic side of the airport at about 15:00 local time and that the terminal was evacuated. A diplomatic source told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the target was civilian. Reuters reported that Saudi early-warning systems issued no alert before the impact.
Passengers gave the wire services a picture of the scene. One traveller in the domestic terminal told AFP they were at gate 403 when gate 401 was hit, and saw injured people nearby as everyone ran. An injured passenger told Reuters they saw something fly across the sky outside before part of the ceiling near a departure gate collapsed. More than a dozen ambulances were reported at the airport, and a medical source told AFP that hospitals had called up doctors in large numbers.
The same day, a separate projectile fell near King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia, according to the Coalition. Flights were diverted and cancelled. Kuwait Airways, Etihad and Qatar Airways suspended services, and several foreign embassies warned their citizens to avoid the airport and the area around it.
2. The Houthis Warned Airlines Off Saudi Airspace in the Days Before the Strike
The Houthis had warned airlines off Saudi airspace in the days before the strike, after an earlier attack on King Khalid International Airport on 5 October. Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesman, said his forces had disrupted navigation at the airport, and warned international airlines against flying in Saudi airspace. His statement on X read:
The armed forces warn all international airlines using Saudi airspace against continuing their flights because it has become a theatre for our operations, with the exception of the sacred airspace of Mecca and Medina, and we disclaim responsibility for the consequences of ignoring this warning.
A Houthi-run maritime coordination body issued similar warnings on Monday and again on Thursday, according to the Gulf business publication AGBI. It said Saudi airspace would stay unsafe for as long as Saudi "aggression" against the group continued. Saree repeated the notice on 8 October, this time as the last:
We reiterate our call and warning for the last time to all global airlines regarding the consequences of continuing to operate flights in Saudi airspace, which has become a theater for our military operations.
A Houthi military statement reported by wire services in the days before the strike said humanitarian flights to and from Riyadh would be permitted if a Houthi coordinating body in Sanaa authorised them.
3. Saudi Airports Came Under Repeated Attack in the Days Before Saturday
In a statement on 7 October, GACA said Abha International Airport and King Khalid International Airport had each been targeted once across 6 and 7 October. At Abha, two women residents, one Moroccan and one Algerian, were killed and 28 people injured. In Riyadh, one Sudanese resident was killed and eight injured, a total of three dead and 36 injured.
GACA reported two further attacks on King Khalid on 8 October, in a statement published the next day. Three Saudi citizens were killed, among them Captain Hamoud Ali Alkalthami, a pilot with the Saudi national airline, and people of several nationalities were injured. A Saudia aircraft on the ground was damaged, and operations later resumed.
4. Saudi-Led Coalition Calls Saturday's Attack a War Crime and Promises a Firm Response
The Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, the Saudi-led military alliance that backs Yemen's internationally recognised government, attributed Saturday's attack to the Houthis. Its spokesman, Major General Turki Al-Malki, said the strike on a passenger hall at King Khalid International Airport was a "terrorist act" that killed and injured civilian passengers and airport staff, amounting to a "full-fledged war crime" under international humanitarian law and its customary rules, and a "heinous act that contradicts principles, values and morals". He said the Coalition's Joint Forces Command would respond firmly, in accordance with that law.
The Saudi Press Agency listed condemnations from Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates. The Coalition has not said what form its response will take.
5. Rubio Condemns the Attack; Trump Says the US May Join Saudi Strikes
Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack on X and confirmed that an American citizen was among the dead:
The United States strongly condemns the recent attacks on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by the terrorist Houthis, including today's strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh that took numerous innocent lives, including an American citizen.
These reprehensible attacks demonstrate a blatant disregard for innocent civilian life. They must stop now.
We stand with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and its people and extend our condolences to the victims and their families.
President Donald Trump was asked outside the White House on Saturday whether the United States had decided to join Saudi strikes on the Houthis. He answered:
We may. We're going to look at it. We just found out about the recent attack, so we'll make a decision. We move very quickly.
A separate question, on whether the attack changed his earlier position on the timing of any action against Iran, drew a shorter reply:
We're going to take a look.
That position dates from 8 October, when Trump posted that the United States "will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections", which fall on 3 November.
The United States embassy in Riyadh said it was aware of the attacks and strongly recommended that Americans avoid the airport and the area around it. Earlier in the week it had urged heightened vigilance over possible flight cancellations and airspace closures.
6. How the War Escalated: Sanaa Runway, the Mocha Offensive and Yemen Dawn
The round of fighting opened on 13 July, when the Saudi-backed Yemeni government struck the runway at Sanaa International Airport to stop an Iranian passenger plane from landing. The aircraft, carrying a Houthi delegation returning from Tehran, diverted and landed safely at Hodeidah, a Red Sea port city. The Houthis fired ballistic missiles and drones at Abha International Airport and the Khamis Mushait air base. The Coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile launched toward Riyadh. Saudi forces responded with strikes on Sa'dah, in Yemen's far north, that day and the next.
Through August and early September the Houthis widened their cross-border missile and drone attacks against Saudi oil facilities, airports and tankers. Their coastal offensive opened on 3 September. On 10 September they seized the Red Sea port of Mocha, and by the following day they had taken Dhubab, Perim Island and the Hanish Islands, roughly 150 kilometres of coastline guarding the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, the narrow passage at the southern mouth of the Red Sea. Yemeni government forces withdrew toward Aden, the government's temporary capital.
Saudi Arabia's air campaign intensified through the second half of September, with the Coalition reporting interceptions of multiple Houthi missiles and drones. On 4 and 5 October Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, the government's top executive body, announced Operation Yemen Dawn, a counter-offensive to retake Houthi-held territory under Saudi air cover. Government-aligned forces claimed advances around Bab al-Mandeb, Dhubab and the outskirts of Mocha, and the Coalition reported destroying hundreds of Houthi targets.
Conclusion
The attack on King Khalid International Airport killed 12 people and injured 309, GACA reported, the largest toll in its reports of airport attacks since 6 October. The Coalition blamed the Houthis, called the strike a war crime and promised a firm response. The Houthis had told airlines on 8 October to stop flying in Saudi airspace.
The United States condemned the attack and confirmed an American death, and Trump said Washington would decide quickly whether to join Saudi strikes. As of 11 October, no decision had been announced, the Coalition had not said what form its response would take, and flights at the airport remained disrupted.