Riyadh, Oct 2026 : An attack targeting King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, on Saturday killed 12 people and injured 309 others, according to the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation, amid an escalating exchange of strikes between Saudi forces and Yemen’s Houthi group.
In a statement issued early Sunday, the aviation authority said the fatalities included four Saudi citizens and eight foreign residents. The foreign nationals comprised two Bangladeshis and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Palestine and Sudan, Xinhua news agency reported.
The injured have been admitted to several hospitals, with some reported to be in serious condition, the authority said. Airport operations were temporarily suspended following the attack to facilitate damage assessments and safety inspections.
The incident marks a significant escalation in the widening confrontation, with airports and other critical infrastructure increasingly exposed to the violence.
Following Saturday’s attack, the Houthi group issued a statement expressing its readiness to take reciprocal measures with Saudi Arabia to ensure that airports, seaports and other facilities serving humanitarian purposes remain outside the expanding military confrontation.
Meanwhile, Houthi-run al-Masirah television reported that Saudi Arabia had launched a fresh wave of air and missile strikes against Houthi-controlled areas in Yemen. The reported targets included Sanaa International Airport in the capital, areas near the strategically important Bab al-Mandab Strait and several northern provinces.
The developments came as fighting intensified across multiple fronts in Yemen.
Yemen’s government forces claimed on Saturday that more than 1,150 Houthi fighters had been “neutralized” and over 180 military and logistical vehicles destroyed or damaged in more than 1,900 strikes conducted across the country over the preceding 24 hours. These figures could not be independently verified.
Military sources also reported fierce clashes south of Taiz, a strategic city in southwestern Yemen. Houthi advances have reportedly increased pressure on government forces defending the city and disrupted key roads connecting it with government-controlled areas in the south.
Backed by Saudi airstrikes, Yemeni government forces launched a major offensive on Monday to recapture territory held by the Houthis. Some of the heaviest fighting has reportedly centred on areas surrounding the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a crucial maritime passage linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Yemen has been engulfed in conflict since late 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and large parts of the country’s north. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 in support of the internationally recognised government, now based in Aden.
The renewed hostilities represent a major escalation following a United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 that largely brought an end to large-scale fighting. The latest attacks have heightened concerns over civilian safety and the security of critical infrastructure across the region.
(Disclaimer :The content of this article is sourced from a news agency and has not been edited by the Mavericknews30 team.)
