RIYADH | October 11, 2026 | Saudi Arabia extended the closure of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh until at least 9 p.m. Sunday and moved schools in the capital to online classes for the rest of the week after a missile attack killed 12 people and injured more than 300, as Yemen’s Houthi rebels renewed threats against airports across the kingdom.
The attack on Saturday marked a major escalation in the renewed conflict between Saudi Arabia and the Iran-backed Houthi movement. Saudi authorities reported 309 people injured, while the fatalities included four Saudi nationals, two Bangladeshis and one citizen each from the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Sudan, according to the Associated Press (AP).
The airport closure was extended as airlines cancelled or diverted flights, disrupting international travel. Riyadh authorities also ordered schools to conduct classes remotely until the end of the week as security concerns mounted.
Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree renewed the group’s warning to airlines, aviation personnel and travellers against using Saudi airports and airspace, describing them as potential targets. He said airports in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina were exempt from the warning, according to Reuters and AP.
The Houthis had not claimed responsibility for Saturday’s deadly attack as of Sunday, although the Saudi-led military coalition blamed the group and condemned the strike as an attack on civilians. The coalition has vowed to respond to attacks against civilian infrastructure.
The Houthis also reported that two airstrikes hit Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, on Sunday, blaming Saudi Arabia. Saudi authorities had not immediately commented, and no casualties were reported at the time of publication, AP said. The Houthi-run Health Ministry claimed that 91 people had been killed and 168 wounded in Saudi-led coalition attacks over five weeks. Those figures could not be independently verified.
US President Donald Trump said Washington was considering whether to join Saudi military operations against the Houthis. Such an intervention could widen the conflict and increase the risk of further attacks against regional infrastructure and shipping.
The latest escalation has also raised concerns over the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the strategic passage linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. The Houthis’ position along Yemen’s western coast gives the group a capacity to threaten commercial shipping through a corridor vital to international trade and energy transport.
Saudi Arabia intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to support the internationally recognized government against the Houthis, who seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. A United Nations-brokered truce in 2022 brought a prolonged reduction in fighting, but renewed hostilities have since undermined efforts to secure a lasting settlement.
The airport closure, school disruptions and renewed threats against aviation underscore the growing impact of the conflict on civilians and regional transport. With Saudi Arabia threatening retaliation and Washington weighing a possible military role, the latest violence risks expanding an already volatile regional war.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
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