--- title: "Missiles over Riyadh on the morning its bombed airport reopened" description: "Saudi defences report downing a missile and drone near the capital and 10 more missiles in the south, as the Houthis close in on Taiz" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-10-25T10:42:51Z modified: 2026-10-25T13:01:56Z url: https://rews.cc/a/missiles-over-riyadh-on-the-morning-its-bombed-airport-reope-34c7f1 language: en tags: ["yemen", "saudi", "houthi", "war", "missiles", "mideast"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Missiles over Riyadh on the morning its bombed airport reopened *Saudi defences report downing a missile and drone near the capital and 10 more missiles in the south, as the Houthis close in on Taiz* By Jan Sokol · October 25, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/missiles-over-riyadh-on-the-morning-its-bombed-airport-reope-34c7f1 ## In brief - Saudi-led coalition says it intercepted a Houthi ballistic missile aimed at Riyadh, a drone, and a cruise missile aimed at Khamis Mushait - The coalition later reported intercepting 10 ballistic missiles fired at southern Saudi Arabia - Two terminals at Riyadh’s King Khalid airport reopened, shut since an October 10 attack that killed 13 and wounded over 300 - Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree called the airport a military target; Houthis deny targeting Mecca and Medina - In Yemen, Houthis have besieged Taiz, and the UN warns time is running out to reach 800,000 trapped people Sunday, 25 October, began in Riyadh with explosions. According to Major-General Turki al-Maliki, spokesman of the Saudi-led coalition, a ballistic missile fired by Yemen’s Houthis was flying toward the capital that morning, and his forces intercepted and destroyed it. A drone was brought down in the Riyadh region. A cruise missile aimed at Khamis Mushait, the city in the kingdom’s south-west, met the same end. Blasts were heard in the capital, [Al Jazeera reported](https://aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/25/saudi-arabia-intercepts-missiles-and-drones-as-fighting-with-houthis-rages). Later in the day the coalition added another number: 10 ballistic missiles fired at southern Saudi Arabia, all of them, it said, intercepted. Even the morning’s tally comes in more than one version. [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/25/saudi-arabia-houthi-missile-drone-interceptions.html), citing the Saudi Press Agency, quoted al-Maliki as saying two drones and a ballistic missile were “intercepted and destroyed” as they headed toward Riyadh. In a war conducted largely by communiqué, what fell from the sky depends partly on which bulletin one reads. Saudi civil defence, for its part, announced that the danger in Riyadh had passed. ## The airport The date mattered. On the same day, two terminals at King Khalid International Airport reopened: Terminal 2 for international flights, Terminal 1 for domestic travel. The airport had been closed since 10 October, when a Houthi attack killed 13 people and wounded more than 300. Early reports of [that strike](https://rews.cc/a/saudi-arabia-opens-energy-talks-a-day-after-houthi-strike-ki-d70618) gave a death toll of 12. The Houthis had announced in advance what they thought of the reopening. On 24 October their military spokesman, Yahya Saree, repeated that the airport was “unsafe” and a “military target”, and told airlines, staff and travellers to stay away. > The Saudi regime shall bear the consequences of any operations at the airport. Here, perhaps, is the logic of such wars, offered as reflection rather than fact. A state reopens a terminal to show that it is still a state: that tickets are sold, that luggage moves, that life goes on. The insurgent replies that nothing goes on without his permission. Each side speaks to the same audience, the passenger standing at the departure gate, who never asked to be part of the argument. ## A calendar of interceptions Sunday was not an exception. On Saturday the Houthis said they had struck three Saudi airports, one of them in Riyadh, along with energy facilities, a pipeline and an airbase. Among the targets they named were King Khalid International and Saudi Aramco’s installations at Yanbu on the west coast. Saudi civil defence said it had dealt with falling debris in the Mecca and Medina regions after two missiles were intercepted. The Houthis denied aiming at the holy cities and called the accusation a “huge lie”. October can be read as a list of bulletins. On 8 October al-Maliki said his forces had destroyed two ballistic missiles bound for Riyadh and [one aimed at Khamis Mushait](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/10/8/saudi-led-coalition-says-it-intercepts-three-houthi-ballistic-missiles), and that the launch platform, tracked by coalition intelligence to Sanaa, had been destroyed. Around 13 October came [two more missiles toward Khamis Mushait](https://www.spa.gov.sa/en/N2699903) and [one toward Dhahran](https://www.spa.gov.sa/en/N2700744), where debris from the interception fell on a residential area. On 20 October the coalition said it had [destroyed the platform](https://www.arabnews.com/saudi-arabia/coalition-destroys-platform-used-by-houthis-to-launch-ballistic-missile-at-riyadh-3007293) used to fire a ballistic missile at Riyadh earlier that day. Names recur: Riyadh, Taif, Yanbu, Khamis Mushait, Najran. The kingdom has hit back and sought help. On 24 October an airstrike, reportedly Saudi, hit the Asr district of Sanaa, Al Jazeera reported. Britain has sent [RAF Typhoons](https://rews.cc/a/britain-sends-raf-typhoons-to-defend-saudi-arabia-from-houth-739ffa) to help defend Saudi airspace. Yet the damage is already done in a currency that interceptors cannot protect. The world’s largest crude exporter has seen its businesses, its airlines and the daily life of its cities disrupted, and its image abroad badly hurt. ## Taiz Behind the missiles lies the war on the ground in Yemen, where the Iran-backed Houthis, who call themselves Ansar Allah, face a government backed by Riyadh. The fighting escalated sharply last month, when the Houthis seized strategic territory on the Red Sea coast from government-aligned forces. It has since spread to several fronts. The latest is Taiz. Houthi fighters are pushing toward Jabal Sabr, the strategic mountain that overlooks the city. They have besieged Taiz and cut its main road to Aden, the government’s interim capital. Government forces say they carried out more than 700 operations on Saturday and killed more than 300 Houthi fighters, figures that cannot be checked from the outside. Inside the city are 800,000 people. The United Nations has warned that “time is running out” to get aid to them.