Second Attack on Riyadh’s King Khalid Airport Forces Evacuation

Sat Oct 10 2026 16:40:42 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)

Reports confirm a new bomb blast at Riyadh’s main airport, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of passengers even as earlier Houthi strikes have escalated the Yemen–Saudi tensions.

In a fresh escalation of the Yemen conflict, a blast was heard at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, forcing authorities to evacuate the terminals and deploying over a dozen ambulances to the scene. This incident follows two earlier Houthi attacks on the same airport and a separate strike on another Saudi aerodrome, which together killed three Saudi nationals and a pilot. The incidents mirror the Houthis’ declared retaliation against Saudi support for the Yemeni government, amid their rapid gains along the Red Sea coast. Saudi-led coalition forces assembled in 2015 to counter the Houthis faced a fragile cease‑fire that unraveled last July, leading the rebels to launch missile, drone and maritime attacks on Saudi infrastructure. The recent raid adds to the growing toll of the conflict, underscoring the precarious security environment of the region’s key aviation hubs.

Air passengers at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh were forced to evacuate after a loud explosion on Saturday, according to independent witnesses and international media.

A crowd of people reporting the incident stated that dozens of ambulances were on the scene, a channel reporting the event said, while no official statements from Saudi authorities have yet been released.

The blast comes just a day after authorities announced that three Saudi nationals, including a pilot, were killed in earlier Houthi attacks that struck the Riyadh airport – a pattern that has already claimed the lives of three more people on separate airfield strikes on 6 and 7 October.

The Houthis – an Iran‑backed insurgent group that controls most of Yemen’s north‑west – have pledged to target Saudi infrastructure in retaliation for Saudi support of the internationally recognised Yemeni government. They mounted a rapid offensive that seized vital stretches of the Red Sea coast, including the port of Mokha at the Bab al‑Mandab Strait – a strategic chokepoint for global shipping.

In 2015, a Saudi‑led coalition of Arab states launched a campaign aimed at halting the Houthis’ advance. A fragile cease‑fire brokered in 2022 unraveled in July, during which the Houthis declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia and launched missile and drone attacks on airports, oil facilities and tankers in the Red Sea.

These escalating attacks highlight the mounting danger to aviation and commercial infrastructure in the region, posing significant risks to international air travel and regional stability.