{"id":4355,"date":"2026-10-08T09:42:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:42:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/?p=4355"},"modified":"2026-10-08T09:42:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T09:42:19","slug":"houthis-claim-fresh-missile-attack-on-riyadh-airport-as-yemen-fighting-escalates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/08\/houthis-claim-fresh-missile-attack-on-riyadh-airport-as-yemen-fighting-escalates\/politics\/","title":{"rendered":"Houthis claim fresh missile attack on Riyadh airport as Yemen fighting escalates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Thursday it had launched a ballistic missile attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, hours after a previous attack on the Saudi capital’s main airport left one person dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi Arabia had not immediately confirmed the latest Houthi claim, according to Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The claim came as fighting between the Houthis and Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces intensified, with attacks also targeting airports in Yemen and a Saudi-led coalition carrying out strikes on Houthi military positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi civil aviation authorities said attacks on King Khalid and Abha international airports on Tuesday and Wednesday killed three people and injured 36. One person was killed and eight wounded at King Khalid Airport, while two people were killed and 28 injured at facilities at Abha Airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree had said the group targeted King Khalid Airport with drones in the earlier attack. The Saudi-led coalition subsequently said it had struck more than 80 Houthi military sites in the Yemeni governorates of Saada, Hodeidah, Al Jawf and Marib.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The escalation has also reached Yemen’s aviation infrastructure. Yemen’s Transport Ministry said Houthi forces attacked Aden International Airport with ballistic missiles and explosive-laden drones on Wednesday, with one missile landing near the runway shortly before a Cairo-bound passenger flight was due to land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The fighting has increasingly focused on areas around the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a strategic waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and an important route for global energy and commercial shipping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces, supported by coalition air power, have launched a counteroffensive to regain territory near the strait and around the town of Mocha that the Houthis captured in September. The outcome of the advance remains uncertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conflict is also drawing greater regional involvement. Turkey has begun providing mainly defensive and technical support to Saudi Arabia after Turkey and Pakistan agreed to implement a collective defence commitment under their newly formed alliance, according to officials cited by Reuters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syria is also considering whether to provide military assistance to Saudi Arabia. Options under discussion include defensive support for Saudi Arabia or deploying forces to assist Saudi-backed Yemeni troops, although Syrian officials have stressed that the country’s priority remains domestic recovery after its civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest escalation follows renewed fighting in Yemen that has displaced more than 200,000 people since the current round of violence began, according to the International Organization for Migration. The conflict has also deepened humanitarian pressures in a country that has endured years of war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement said on Thursday it had launched a ballistic missile attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, hours after a previous […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,53,41,36,5,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-current_affairs","category-featured-stories","category-hot_topics","category-international","category-politics","category-top_stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4358,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4355\/revisions\/4358"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedawnrwanda.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}