Houthis Claim Missile Strikes on Riyadh Airport, Khamis Mushait Air Base and Jazan Border Guard Base; Saudi Arabia Has Not Confirmed

Yemen’s Houthis claimed on the evening of Sunday 25 October 2026 that they had fired “dozens of ballistic missiles” in three operations against King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Khalid Air Base at Khamis Mushait and the southern naval base of the Saudi Border Guard in Jazan, and said the Jazan strike killed and wounded Saudi soldiers and officers. The claim was made in a statement read by military spokesman Yahya Saree at 21:00 Sanaa time (18:00 GMT). Saudi authorities and the Saudi-led coalition had not responded to the claims by 19:10 GMT, and DefenceMENA has not been able to verify them.

What the Houthis claimed

According to the statement, the first operation targeted King Khalid International Airport and “achieved its objective”. The second was aimed at aircraft shelters, ammunition stores, drone control centres and “a number of important sites” at King Khalid Air Base in Khamis Mushait. The third targeted the Border Guard’s southern naval base in Jazan and, the group said, caused deaths and injuries among Saudi personnel. Saree gave no launch times, no breakdown of the missiles used and no casualty figures. He had trailed the announcement about an hour earlier.

The Houthis presented the attacks as retaliation for Saudi-led air strikes on Sanaa and other Houthi-held areas on Saturday, which they said killed and wounded dozens of people, most of them women and children. That figure has not been independently confirmed. Saree repeated the group’s warning to airlines, airport staff and passengers to stay away from King Khalid International Airport and from Saudi airspace, except over Mecca and Medina.

What Saudi Arabia has said on Sunday

Saudi statements on Sunday describe interceptions, not hits. The coalition said it intercepted a ballistic missile fired towards Riyadh at about 06:20 local time, a cruise missile aimed at Khamis Mushait at 09:58 and ten ballistic missiles fired towards the southern region at 11:46 (our report). Saudi Civil Defence said at 16:24 that debris from two intercepted missiles injured two people in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah (our report). Civil Defence also issued two short early-warning alerts for Jazan Province between 12:53 and 13:09.

The Houthi statement does not say when the three operations took place, so it is not clear whether it refers to the launches the coalition reported intercepting during the day or to a later salvo. No Saudi body has reported damage or casualties at King Khalid Air Base or at a Border Guard facility in Jazan.

The targets

King Khalid Air Base, near Abha in Asir province, is one of the Royal Saudi Air Force’s main bases in the south-west; the Houthis also listed it among their claimed targets on Saturday. Jazan Province borders Yemen and sits on the Red Sea coast. King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh partially reopened on 25 October for domestic flights and some international flights by Saudi carriers, the US Mission in Saudi Arabia said.

Previous developments

On Saturday the Houthis claimed strikes on Riyadh airport, Aramco sites at Yanbu and Rabigh, the East-West Pipeline, Dammam and Najran airports and Khamis Mushait, while Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted two missiles fired towards the Mecca and Medina regions, an accusation the Houthis deny (our report). Our running account of Houthi attacks on Saudi airports records what Riyadh has confirmed since early October, including the attacks on Abha and Riyadh airports on 6 and 7 October, which Saudi aviation authorities said killed three people and wounded 36.

Classification: REPORTED (claim by a party to the conflict, not independently verified). DefenceMENA will update this report if the coalition, the Saudi Ministry of Defence or Civil Defence comments.

Sources

• Yahya Saree, Houthi military statement on X (25 October 2026, 18:00 GMT)
• Saudi-led coalition spokesman on X: ten ballistic missiles intercepted (25 October 2026)
• Saudi Civil Defence on X: debris injures two in Khamis Mushait and Ahad Rafidah (25 October 2026)
• US Mission in Saudi Arabia: security alert (25 October 2026)