Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said on Friday that three Saudi nationals were killed and several people were injured in two attacks on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Thursday.In a statement on X, the General Authority of Civil Aviation said the first attack targeted airport facilities, while the second struck an aircraft belonging to Saudi state carrier Saudia.The injuries ranged from minor to severe, and the attacks caused material damage, it said, adding that airport operations had resumed and air traffic had returned to normal.Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked the airport with two cruise missiles.The group also said it had targeted an airport in the southwestern city of Najran, a claim Saudi authorities have not confirmed, and an airbase in Khamis Mushait with ballistic missiles.Smoke and flames rise from King Khalid Airport, after Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis said they attacked the airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, October 8, 2026, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (Reuters)The latest confirmed casualties come after Saudi authorities said on Wednesday that three people were killed in earlier strikes this week on Riyadh airport and Abha airport in the southwest of the country.The conflict, now an overspill of the US-Iran war, has stoked further upheaval in a region already destabilised by the wider war, and threatens to draw other states into mountain fighting.
