Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi missiles as Riyadh airport reopens

Debris from two intercepted ballistic missiles injured two people and damaged three residential buildings and seven vehicles in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rufaydah in southern Saudi Arabia on Sunday, Saudi civil defence said, as King Khalid International Airport resumed operations at two terminals.

Why it matters: The southern debris injuries are the first reported casualties on Saudi soil in Sunday's barrage, which reached Riyadh, the south and the Mecca region while the airport reopened under an explicit Houthi warning that it remains a military target.

Data as of Update, October 25, 2026, 10:14 ET: Arab News report of October 25, 2026, read in full, is the source for the Saudi civil defence account of debris from two intercepted ballistic missiles injuring a Saudi citizen and an Asian expatriate resident and damaging three residential buildings and seven vehicles in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rufaydah; those casualty and damage figures are Saudi authorities' claims, not independently corroborated here. Al Jazeera and CNBC reports of the same morning, read in this run, recap the same Sunday barrage already carried below and add no separate attack wave. Original item: Al Jazeera report of October 25, 2026, incorporating AFP and AP and read in full, is the sole source read in this run. The interception counts are the Saudi-led coalition's claims and the airport warning is the Houthis' claim; both are parties to the conflict and neither claim is independently corroborated here. Developing item.

Latest, October 25: Debris from two intercepted ballistic missiles injured two people, a Saudi citizen and an Asian expatriate resident, and damaged three residential buildings and seven vehicles in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rufaydah in the south, a Saudi civil defence spokesperson said, in an Arab News report of the same Sunday barrage whose interceptions are carried below.

The Saudi-led coalition said on Sunday that its forces intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile launched toward Riyadh that morning, a drone in the Riyadh region and a cruise missile aimed at the southwestern city of Khamis Mushait, and later reported the interception of 10 ballistic missiles fired toward southern Saudi Arabia. Saudi civil defence said it had also responded to falling debris in the Mecca and Medina regions on Saturday after intercepting two missiles, a claim the Houthis denied, saying they had not targeted the two cities. The attacks came as King Khalid International Airport resumed operations, with international flights returning to Terminal 2 on Sunday two weeks after a Houthi attack halted operations there, and Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree warned airlines and travellers that the airport remained unsafe and a military target. Inside Yemen, the Houthis advanced on Jabal Sabr, the mountain above Taiz, where the United Nations says 800,000 people are trapped.

Saudi Arabia intercepts Houthi missiles as Riyadh airport reopens

Sources