A Houthi missile struck a passenger terminal at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026, killing 13 people, including an American citizen, and injuring 309. The attack was the deadliest in Saudi Arabia in more than a decade. Attackers struck the airport four times in the five days through Sunday, and it has been closed since Saturday’s attack.

The Saudi-led coalition destroyed four cruise missiles and two drones over Riyadh and southern areas on Tuesday, Oct. 13, as the airport remained closed following a string of attacks that have killed at least 14 people.

An unidentified projectile hit Terminal 4 on Sunday and started a fire. Saudi civil aviation authorities said the second strike killed one person and wounded 11. Saudi authorities said the person killed in Terminal 4 was a Pakistani national, and they did not name him.

Saudi Arabia’s Media Ministry released surveillance video of the instant of the blast on Monday, Oct. 12. The footage shows travelers standing in orderly lines, then the explosion, with smoke and fire, passengers diving for cover, others sprinting through security checkpoints, airport workers crouching under desks and pieces of the roof falling. Saudi authorities released other security-camera video showing travelers, many in white pilgrim robes, standing in line moments before a fireball and flaming debris fell from the ceiling.

The Dead and the Wounded

Saudi officials initially counted 12 dead and 309 injured, several of them critically. The toll rose to 13 on Sunday when Mohammed Yusuf Ali, an Indian national from Hyderabad’s Mehdipatnam, died of his wounds, the Indian Embassy in Riyadh said in a post on X. Hyderabad lawmaker Asaduddin Owaisi said two of his sons and an aunt were also hurt.

The embassy said his funeral rites were completed Oct. 12 in Riyadh at his family’s wishes, with the ambassador attending. The embassy also said four injured Indians remain in intensive care, four are in a normal ward and three have been discharged.

A Saudi statement said the other victims included four Saudi citizens, two Bangladeshis, one Egyptian, one Jordanian, one Palestinian, one Syrian, one Sudanese and one American.

Egyptian media reported that Azza Ramzi Mohamed Hassan, 28, a flight attendant with the Saudi carrier flynas, was among the dead. The Syrian Embassy identified another victim as Buthaina Ahmad Oweida, a widow and mother of four who lived in Makkah. Her niece told The Associated Press that Oweida was returning from visiting her sister in Riyadh.

Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said six Pakistani nationals were injured. Philippines Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac said three Filipinos were hurt and two were recovering in intensive care units at Riyadh hospitals.

Interceptions Over Riyadh

Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led coalition, reported Tuesday’s interceptions in successive posts on X. He wrote, “Three cruise missile destroyed in the Riyadh and southern areas,” then added “two drones intercepted and destroyed,” and later announced that the coalition had destroyed another cruise missile targeting Riyadh. Riyadh residents had received a phone alert on Monday warning, “The area is under a hostile aerial threat.”

Debris from missiles intercepted Tuesday damaged 15 homes in Riyadh and injured four people. On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the coalition said it intercepted another Houthi ballistic missile aimed at the capital, and the Houthis said they had targeted the airport, an Aramco refinery in Riyadh and Aramco facilities in Dhahran, where the Saudi Energy Ministry confirmed an administrative building was hit, Al Jazeera reported.

Coalition forces said they intercepted and destroyed a cruise missile in the vicinity of the airport on Sunday. Later that day, the coalition said it destroyed a drone in the Eastern Province, and early Monday it said it intercepted a ballistic missile aimed at Khamis Mushait.

The Houthis claimed new strikes on Riyadh’s airport and an air base at Khamis Mushait on Monday, and the coalition said it destroyed a ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh the same day. An initial Saudi review found the Houthis launched drones first to clear the way for cruise and ballistic missiles, and that the missiles flew more than 620 miles.

Yahya Saree, the Houthi military spokesperson, claimed responsibility for Saturday’s attack in a televised speech on Sunday. He also said the group struck King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and two Saudi Aramco facilities. A passenger on a plane taxiing in Dammam told Reuters that a projectile hit the tarmac near parked aircraft at about 8:30 p.m. (1730 GMT) Sunday and started a fire.

The Houthis described the strikes as an answer to Saudi attacks in Yemen. The group asserted that a Saudi strike on a house had wounded a woman and three children, and that the kingdom had carried out 124 airstrikes in Yemen over the preceding 24 hours. Earlier Sunday, the group renewed its warning against using Saudi airports: “We urge everyone to take our warnings seriously, and Saudi Arabia bears responsibility for any failed interceptions.”

Al-Maliki said the coalition struck Yemen’s Sanaa and the western provinces of Dhamar and Saada on Tuesday, hitting facilities the Houthis use to “supply the war effort.”

Flights Canceled Across the Kingdom

Data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium showed that more than 3,100 Saudi departures, about 40 percent, were canceled or marked as not operating between Oct. 8 and Oct. 14, Khaleej Times reported Tuesday. At King Khalid, 296 of 334 departures that day were canceled or marked no-fly. The flight-tracking site Flightradar24 estimated cancellations at the Riyadh airport at about 78 percent on Monday.

Emirates, Etihad Airways, FlyDubai and Air Arabia announced cancellations and schedule changes on routes between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Etihad canceled all Abu Dhabi–Riyadh flights until Oct. 19 and its Abu Dhabi–Dammam flights through Oct. 14. The Indian Embassy said Air India, Air India Express, Akasa Air and IndiGo suspended flights to Riyadh and other Saudi cities until Oct. 17, that Saudi authorities will not fine Indian visitors forced to overstay their visas, and that the embassy has opened a 24×7 control room. Saudi authorities extended the airport closure to Saturday, Oct. 17, ABC News Australia reported Tuesday.

UAE travel agents said Umrah bookings have fallen since the attacks. Rashid Abbas, managing director of Arooha Travels, said, “Umrah passengers have put their plans on hold on account of the attacks.”

The five-day WPC Energy conference opened as planned Sunday at a Riyadh convention center.

Warnings and Reactions

The U.S. Embassy and consulates in Saudi Arabia warned Americans about flight cancellations and airspace closures, and said U.S. government employees need special authorization to use King Khalid Airport. Canada told its citizens to avoid the Riyadh airport. Britain’s embassy warned British nationals away from every Saudi airport except Medina, including Jeddah and Dammam, unless their travel is essential. U.S. aviation authorities advised American carriers to use caution flying to or over Saudi Arabia.

Al-Maliki called the attack a war crime. The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned the strikes as a violation of Saudi sovereignty. President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States was considering joining Saudi strikes on the Houthis, and the U.S. had carried out no such strikes as of Tuesday. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi wrote on Telegram that he had told his Saudi counterpart that Tehran is ready to facilitate dialogue between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Saudi energy minister, Prince Abdul Aziz bin Salman, said the kingdom’s answer “must be equally serious.”

Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Saleh bin Fawzan Al-Fawzan condemned the attacks, according to the Saudi Press Agency: “The terrorist Houthi militia’s targeting of civilian facilities and the killing of innocent people, including worshippers heading to the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque, is among the gravest of crimes for which Allah Almighty has threatened painful punishment.”